Creationists tend to be Christians who believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. They believe that the account of creation in the bible (all three of them) are the literal truth, inspired by God to the authors of the various books of the Bible. Creationists also desire that their version of the truth be taught in public schools along with the scientific theories.

Here in Canada we understand evolution and how we have come to exist. I mean, evolution is pretty much an open and shut case, the more things we find the more it focuses our vision into it and the vision has never contradicted itself. Thus we don’t have the problems that America does regarding it. Many people who support creationism down there also support religion, and I think that has a big part to do with why it is a cause in America and not in other first world countries who are either not as religious or have a more hard-lined stance regarding the deserved division of church and state.

I am soooo fighting not to say something like “Because Americans are stupid!”

@syz that would soooo be an over-generalization!

We have very deeply ingrained traditions in this country that derive from early Colonial times. Belief in Biblical inerrancy is part of our cultural heritage, and not that of Old World states, the Jesuit traditions of South America or the Monarchical traditions of Canada.

I am an atheist and a Darwinist, but I don’t see the need to denigrate the sincere beliefs of others.

Because there’s a small but vocal minority that makes a great deal of noise over it.

@cwilbur Those are simply not the facts. Over 60% of Americans believe in Creationism and the Ark of Noah. The minority are Evolutionists like us.

@pdworkin: You make several incorrect assumptions in your response.

@cwilbur I would love to see the citations. Surely you don’t expect me to accept a one-sentence declarative as satisfactory, do you?

I’m a Christian and believed all my life the literal creationism taught by fundamental Christianity. I now realize that I can be a Christian and believe in evolution. But honestly the evidence isn’t conclusive for either side. I don’t see why either needs to be taught. I don’t think it affects our lives in a practical way except give us something to fight about.

@cwilbur I expect I may interpret the sound of crickets as notice that you are unable to substantiate your assertions?

@pdworkin, I respect your request for evidence (and I’d like to see substantiated numbers too—from you, also, because I think 60% sounds outrageous), but seventeen minutes’ silence can hardly be interpreted as nonresponse. I don’t know anything about cwilbur’s circumstances, but I pop in and out of fluther during my workday and would not undertake a substantial answer on company time, much less a research project.

I will be pleased to wait 7 days, and I withdraw my previous statement.

Here are some results from Gallup showing that between 9 and 13% of Americans believe in evolution.

Here is the source where the table formatting remains intact.

1982 to 2004: Gallup polls:

The Gallup Organizations periodically asks randomly selected American adults about their beliefs on evolution and creation. They have conducted a poll of U.S. adults on at least six occasions between 1982 and 2004. By keeping the wording of their questions identical, each year’s results are comparable to the others. This facilitates the detection of trends. 10
Belief system> Creationist view Theistic evolution Naturalistic Evolution

Beliefs—>

Year
God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. Man has developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process, including man’s creation. Man has developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. God had no part in this process.
1982-JUL 44% 38% 9%
1993-JUN 47 35 11
1997-NOV 44 39 10
1999-AUG 47 40 9
2001-FEB 45 37 12
2004-NOV 45 38 13

@jaketheripper
the evidence is crushingly in favour of evolution and is more than conclusive. and it needs to be taught because it explains how life as we know it came to be. it should be basic knowledge like gravity and electromagnetism

@ragingloli I haven’t seen the evidence as being “crushingly in favor” of evolution. I kind of wish it was so I could make a solid decision. But as to your claim that it should be taught: Why? It doesn’t affect our day to day lives. Why can’t that be taught by the family or another institution?

“It doesn’t affect our day to day lives”
oh yes it does.
the entire field of biology is based on the correctness of evolution.
cultivation techiques for plants depend on the correctness of evolution
breeding of animals depends on it.
creating vaccines for diseases depends on it.
the lives of billions of humans depend on it.

http://www.talkorigins.org/

I knew a woman who had grown up cloistered within the heavily defended encampment of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. She made her escape as an adult, lacking all the basic general education that most of us take for granted. She told me, “The world is a very scary place when you don’t know the reason for anything.”

@Jeruba I am pleased that you watch carefully and don’t cut me slack – it keeps me on my toes, and in fact, my figures were incorrect: more than 85% of Americans don’t believe in evolution, but not all of those believe in Biblical inerrancy, so I stand corrected, but just as you are quick to question, one would hope that you would be as quick to acknowledge.

@ragingloli Ah yes i see what you are saying. But most of us believe that evolution takes place within a species. We just aren’t sure it accounts for all varieties of life on earth. So yes you do need to understand the concept of evolution to understand those fields. But that is not to say that it’s the origin of all species which is a claim that is not necessary to those fields.

@pdworkin, certainly. Acknowledged, and that difference is a significant one.

And of course I’d cut you slack. I’m not monitoring anyone. I just saw you chiding cwilbur on what seemed to me to be an unfair charge. That’s what I reacted to and not to any specific data. Again, though, I might not have seen your response for days, and that would not have meant anything but that I was occupying other parts of my life. The same could be true of him.

Let’s see what develops as far as fair and unfair. I have documented my assertion. I will be glad to wait a week to see if he documents his.

Because Americans are stupid. There @syz, I said it for you.

I trace all the religious nonsense in this country to the Puritan settlers. We haven’t changed much since those days.

I’m happy for people to believe whatever they want to believe. When it contradicts accepted scientific fact and you insist that your views are the only possibility, then yes, I consider you stupid.

If you try to insist that creationism is taught in school as a science rather than in comparative religion (or some similar class), then yes, I consider you stupid.

If you insist than something must be correct against all evidence to the contrary merely because the “masses” think it must be so, then yes, I consider you stupid.

They must be in the bozone layer.

@tinyfaery thank you for that over-generalization
@Jeruba LOL

@Yetanotheruser Get with the conversation. It was a joke.

@tinyfaery oops, I forgot the ”~”! If you read my comment after the original comment made by @syz, you may be able to see the tongue in my cheek.

Americans are very proud of their ignorance. Most other peoples would not be so excited by it.

You may say so, but that simply does not describe any of the people I know.

@jaketheripper

Evolution needs to be taught because it’s science; believe it or not, it’s important that children are taught science. I hate to sound terribly rude, but this sentiment shared by many Americans that “it doesn’t affect us either way” is precisely why this country is so incredibly ignorant of science and thus so resistant to such ideas as evolution and the big bang. Americans tend not to understand how science works nor why we should be doing it.

Maybe because religion is seen as a business. A good example would be televangelists. For marketing efforts to succeed people might need simple messages.

Vocal atheism might also be counterproductive. Many people choose to live a spiritual life. Stupid slogans like ‘science leads to atheism’ might send the message: okay, well, then it might be better to avoid science altogether (general attitude: “I don’t appreciate critical thinking in a way that changes the bible. God said that he made Eve from Adam’s rib. You don’t dissect that. You accept that.”)

If American atheists were more tolerant of people who both embrace science and Christianity, the situation could improve. Long term the creationist movement can become very dangerous, because it fosters and increases science illiteracy in a dramatic way. Without science and engineering the Earth won’t be able to accommodate 9 billion people.