Americans do not believe that humans evolved, and the vast majority says that even if they evolved, God guided the process. Just 13 percent say that God was not involved. But most would not substitute the teaching of creationism for the teaching of evolution in public schools."Only"? Over one in three Americans don't believe that children should be taught science as well understood and well-founded as the theory of gravitation, and that's "only"?
Support for evolution is more heavily concentrated among those with more education and among those who attend religious services rarely or not at all.
There are also differences between voters who supported Kerry and those who supported Bush: 47 percent of John Kerry’s voters think God created humans as they are now, compared with 67 percent of Bush voters....
...Overall, about two-thirds of Americans want creationism taught along with evolution. Only 37 percent want evolutionism replaced outright.
I shudder to think how the body politic will react when the genome project truly starts bearing fruit, and evolution becomes applied technology as well as abstract science.
Yes. Especially when you compare it to another developed country - Japan, where 94% believe in evolution.
ReplyDeleteThe industrial revolution led to bombs, guns, and machine tanks. Was it then, was a bad thing? Every discovery comes with its attendant dangers. Does that mean that we should stop the scientists in their tracks with 'what-if' questions?
ReplyDeleteLimited regulation can help address ethical issues as well. South Korea, for example, has banned human cloning - quite reasonable, in my opinion - but stem cell research and embryonic cloning are legal. Sensible laws get applied when people's views are not clouded by religion.
And now President Bush recommends "exploring other ideas" by including intelligent design in the curriculum along with evolution. Amusingly, it's only christianity's view of intelligent design, but way to explore other ideas.
ReplyDeleteHow would W respond if you promised him that he could clone lots of God-fearing evolution-hating sons of the Lord to go out there and fight the good fight in iraq? You could bring in an alternative draft -- donate your clone to the pentagon.
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