A WHOPPING 46% Of Americans Believe In Creationism According To New Gallup Poll

SharpshooterTom

From the article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/americans-believe-in-creationism_n_1571127.html

From the website itself:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx

Gallup wrote:

Despite the many changes that have taken place in American society and culture over the past 30 years, including new discoveries in biological and social science, there has been virtually no sustained change in Americans' views of the origin of the human species since 1982. The 46% of Americans who today believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years is little changed from the 44% who believed this 30 years ago, when Gallup first asked the question.

More broadly, some 78% of Americans today believe that God had a hand in the development of humans in some way, just slightly less than the percentage who felt this way 30 years ago.

All in all, there is no evidence in this trend of a substantial movement toward a secular viewpoint on human origins.
Most Americans are not scientists, of course, and cannot be expected to understand all of the latest evidence and competing viewpoints on the development of the human species. Still, it would be hard to dispute that most scientists who study humans agree that the species evolved over millions of years, and that relatively few scientists believe that humans began in their current form only 10,000 years ago without the benefit of evolution. Thus, almost half of Americans today hold a belief, at least as measured by this question wording, that is at odds with the preponderance of the scientific literature

So perhaps the hype about America and the world in general turning out to be more secular is a false one??

There's been a lot of threads on here recently about how religion will die out in 50 years etc, but gallup shows no evidence for it, infact the number of Americans believing in creationism has increased over the past 30 years.

Interesting I guess the concept of creationism is here to stay, at least in the most powerful country in the world it is.

Pushtrak

There is a huge home schooling thing over in the states isn't there? I'd be interested in how the figures look for home school VS public schools. Some interesting things could probably be drawn from that.

Pride Fighter

No wonder China is taking over.

DonQuay1

Gnobe wrote: »

From the article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/americans-believe-in-creationism_n_1571127.html

From the website itself:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx



So perhaps the hype about America and the world in general turning out to be more secular is a false one??

There's been a lot of threads on here recently about how religion will die out in 50 years etc, but gallup shows no evidence for it, infact the number of Americans believing in creationism has increased over the past 30 years.

Interesting I guess the concept of creationism is here to stay, at least in the most powerful country in the world it is.

The '... most powerful...' country in the world also spends - by far - the most per head of population on arms, armys and weapons production. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_industry So - they might believe in a 'dog' ..... but they believe in one that allows them to kill indiscriminately as if it's an American right.

They believe that they can justify making 35%+ of themselves morbidly obese - with nary a thought to helping other starving peoples. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1104933 => Conclusion In 2009-2010, the prevalence of obesity was 35.5% among adult men and 35.8% among adult women, with no significant change compared with 2003-2008.

They pillage resources from around the world to help them in the above - without any 'green' idea of how to do it - so killing us all off slowly but surely.

I could go on. Creationism me arse. That's just a word for most of them to use to justify their ignorance in many things and their justification for the actions caused by that ignorance.

'Destructionism' more like.

Ellis Dee

Gnobe wrote: »

So perhaps the hype about America and the world in general turning out to be more secular is a false one??

I don't believe it is hype. Just because a substantial segment of the American population has allowed itself to be dumbed down and is sunk in a morass of wilful ignorance and superstition does not mean that the overall trend globally is not towards greater recognition of realities.

Gnobe wrote: »

There's been a lot of threads on here recently about how religion will die out in 50 years etc, but gallup shows no evidence for it, infact the number of Americans believing in creationism has increased over the past 30 years.

Interesting I guess the concept of creationism is here to stay, at least in the most powerful country in the world it is.

You are right, it seems to be here for the long haul in what is currently the most powerful country in the world, but for how long will the USA retain that status? And when China, and perhaps India, are calling most of the shots globally, who will give a toss what religious stuff and nonsense the Americans believe anyway?:rolleyes::rolleyes:

smash

I didn't realise that high a percentage were retarded.

sparks24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYCjMrs61eQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYCjMrs61eQ

qz

I don't agree with them, but surely a belief is an entirely subjective thing. If that many people choose to ignore science for their faith then so be it. You wouldn't go giving out about Hindus for believing in a god that has a load of arms.

Mickey Dazzler

Ahh ye gotta love the old septic tanks. Absolute clowns.

dvpower

qz wrote: »

You wouldn't go giving out about Hindus for believing in a god that has a load of arms.

Why wouldn't you? Its a daft idea.

bbam

My brother believes god created everything and that to god it happened in seven days. Here on earth evolution is the tool through which he created everything and it appeared to take much longer to us Thus he marrys both faith and science.
Also he believes that god initiated the big bang, how else would it start from nothIng to become everything it is now. Science can't prove he's wrong.

In fairness its not a bad perspective.
Particularly after a few beers.

He's 24, never goes to mass so isn't a religious nut either

planetX

Gnobe wrote: »

So perhaps the hype about America and the world in general turning out to be more secular is a false one??

who ever said that?

Look to your own before laughing though. The American public school system is secular, unlike in this country where the Catholic church is still prevalent.
Obesity in children is at similar levels in this country, like most developed over-fed nations.
Yeah, it's just in the evil empire - wow, they might bring in Sharia law next after all that time in Afghanistan?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Gnobe wrote: »

So perhaps the hype about America and the world in general turning out to be more secular is a false one??

There's been a lot of threads on here recently about how religion will die out in 50 years etc, but gallup shows no evidence for it, infact the number of Americans believing in creationism has increased over the past 30 years.

Interesting I guess the concept of creationism is here to stay, at least in the most powerful country in the world it is.

I think it depends on which State we're tlking about.

The problem isn't religion, it's the way religion is used as a tool to keep peopel ignorant.

bizmark

DonQuay1 wrote: »

The '... most powerful...' country in the world also spends - by far - the most per head of population on arms, armys and weapons production. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_industry So - they might believe in a 'dog' ..... but they believe in one that allows them to kill indiscriminately as if it's an American right.

They believe that they can justify making 35%+ of themselves morbidly obese - with nary a thought to helping other starving peoples. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1104933 => Conclusion In 2009-2010, the prevalence of obesity was 35.5% among adult men and 35.8% among adult women, with no significant change compared with 2003-2008.

They pillage resources from around the world to help them in the above - without any 'green' idea of how to do it - so killing us all off slowly but surely.

I could go on. Creationism me arse. That's just a word for most of them to use to justify their ignorance in many things and their justification for the actions caused by that ignorance.

'Destructionism' more like.

Rabble Rabble anti american nonsense.
They have the 8th highest spending on their military in terms of gdp in the world ranked 45th in numbers of solders per 100,000 population 61st if you include reservists into total numbers China has a obesity level of 20% in city's in fact apparently 1/5th of all "fat" people in the world a whole 1 billion on the planet are Chinese,

Being fat isnt a american thing nor is fighting wars this sort of chip on the shoulder is rather pathetic while you enjoy what is essentially an american life style knowing for certiancy we will have peace due massively to the american military

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/apr/01/information-is-beautiful-military-spending
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/media/en/gsfs_obesity.pdf

Sunnyisland

I know we can say & criticism who we want here in this country,But it can be having a laugh when we criticize others when we still have state run catholic schools,gombeen politics still going on,Empty houses crumbling down while other people are evicted from there's,and of course our great leaders getting paid more than even the aforementioned American one,Alas lets ignore our own failures and laugh at someone else, the fools.

biko

Fundamentalists with guns is never a good combination.

bbam

biko wrote: »

Fundamentalists with guns is never a good combination.

People and guns are never a good combination

Father Damo

planetX wrote: »

who ever said that?

Look to your own before laughing though. The American public school system is secular, unlike in this country where the Catholic church is still prevalent.

In theory more than anything tbh. Catholic teaching in schools is like drink driving laws in Ireland until the 80s- it might be on the books but it is pretty rare for them to actually be used. I got sod all religious instruction in my school days and they are over nearly 10 years, so i would imagine it is taught even less these days.

Wibbs

donegal_road wrote: »

Zeitgeist should be made compulsary viewing for school kids across the world, particularly the section on religion.

No it shouldn't, because whether you believe in a deity or not Zeitgeist is utter crap, historically and theologically. EG the frame of the video mentioning Mithra? Nope, he wasn't born of a virgin, he came out of a rock, he didn't have any disciples and he didn't die for three days and live again. Gods don't tend to die. None of the other comparisons to other dieties in it bear much investigation either. It's designed to prey on the historically/theologically ignorant.

Shenshen

bbam wrote: »

My brother believes god created everything and that to god it happened in seven days. Here on earth evolution is the tool through which he created everything and it appeared to take much longer to us Thus he marrys both faith and science.
Also he believes that god initiated the big bang, how else would it start from nothIng to become everything it is now. Science can't prove he's wrong.

In fairness its not a bad perspective.
Particularly after a few beers.

He's 24, never goes to mass so isn't a religious nut either

Next time after a few beers, ask him where god came from if he existed before the big bang? Who initiated god?

Sunnyisland

bbam wrote: »

My brother believes god created everything and that to god it happened in seven days. Here on earth evolution is the tool through which he created everything and it appeared to take much longer to us Thus he marrys both faith and science.
Also he believes that god initiated the big bang, how else would it start from nothIng to become everything it is now. Science can't prove he's wrong.

In fairness its not a bad perspective.
Particularly after a few beers.

He's 24, never goes to mass so isn't a religious nut either

Are you sure he is not drinking spirits :P

donegal_road

Wibbs wrote: »

No it shouldn't, because whether you believe in a deity or not Zeitgeist is utter crap, historically and theologically. EG the frame of the video mentioning Mithra? Nope, he wasn't born of a virgin, he came out of a rock, he didn't have any disciples and he didn't die for three days and live again. Gods don't tend to die. None of the other comparisons to other dieties in it bear much investigation either. It's designed to prey on the historically/theologically ignorant.

what ever you think of it doesn't change the fact that its a damn sight more entertaining than going to religion class or mass

Pushtrak

donegal_road wrote: »

what ever you think of it doesn't change the fact that its a damn sight more entertaining than going to religion class or mass

I would rather no time be spent on nonsense in the class room than substituting one form of nonsense for another.

Wibbs

donegal_road wrote: »

what ever you think of it doesn't change the fact that its a damn sight more entertaining than going to religion class or mass

I suppose, if one wants to remain ignorant and believe anything just because it's dressed up nicely. So just like religion then?

BTW it's not what I think about it, it's whether it's objectively accurate or not. It's not. I mean the bit about the "son" of god and "sun" being connected.*facepalm* Ehhhhh do people not cop on that this only works in English? It makes most religious stuff look like perfect sense by comparison.

Having seen Prometheus, I now believe in Creationism. Only it wasn't God ...
(dun dun dduuuuunnn)

bbam

Shenshen wrote: »

Next time after a few beers, ask him where god came from if he existed before the big bang? Who initiated god?

That's his point.
There is as much proof of god existing before the big bang as anything else being there so therefore he concludes that god cannot be disproved.
He says he is open to change his mind when evidence rather than theory of pre the big bang exists.
His point is also that science can not prove that god didn't guide us through evolution as a tool of creation.

It's a simple argument but in fairness, as he says in the absence of alternative proof it's as good a theory as any other.

Stiffler2

This figure doesn't suprise me tbh.

I'd thought it would have been more like 80%+

have you been to America ?

Wibbs

Well technically time didn't exist "before" the big bang, so "before" itself didn't exist. This kinda kills the usual argument of "what made god" as the very rule of cause and effect couldn't apply. In any event if a deity did exist it would by it's nature be "outside" existence as measured in this universe. It doesn't mean another form of existence couldn't be out there. IE if some species of hyper intelligent beings in this universe created a singularity in the lab that went on to beget another big bang in another universe, they existed before in this universe, but not in the one they created.

the_syco

I like how the questions give two answers that are god related, and one not god related. The way they are worded the answers seemed biased, so I'm wondering who sponsored the study?

OldGoat

A friend used science theory to prove the existence of god to me, the bastard.

rn

It would be of no surprise if the majority in Ireland believed in creationism.

Wibbs

rn wrote: »

It would be of no surprise if the majority in Ireland believed in creationism.

It would to me. For a couple of reasons. 1) we're a more secular nation in the last generation than Americans would be. 2) Creationism tends to come from a more Protestant literal reading of the texts, something Catholicism tends not to do. The latter is much more likely to say "x passage is a metaphor". Ireland come from a predominantly catholic mindset even if today it's spelled with a small c.

Beruthiel

bbam wrote: »

Also he believes that god initiated the big bang, how else would it start from nothIng to become everything it is now. Science can't prove he's wrong.

At one point in time, we did not know what the sun was so we decided to call it a god.
Humans don't like not having an answer to everything, it scares them.
But just because you don't understand something doesn't mean you should just fill in the blanks with a 'god' to satisfy your need to have any answer.
Science may not know the answer now, that doesn't mean they won't come up with one in the future.

Biggins

the_syco wrote: »

I like how the questions give two answers that are god related, and one not god related. The way they are worded the answers seemed biased, so I'm wondering who sponsored the study?

Exactly - watch the video below folk.
Although its a sketch, it points out how surveys can be done and swayed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ZZJXw4MTA

Shenshen

bbam wrote: »

That's his point.
There is as much proof of god existing before the big bang as anything else being there so therefore he concludes that god cannot be disproved.
He says he is open to change his mind when evidence rather than theory of pre the big bang exists.
His point is also that science can not prove that god didn't guide us through evolution as a tool of creation.

It's a simple argument but in fairness, as he says in the absence of alternative proof it's as good a theory as any other.

You might want to tell him that there is plenty of evidence, otherwise it wouldn't be a theory but a hypothesis.

And once he got his head around that, you could point him to Russell's Teapot, just to see if he decides that simply because it can't be disproved it should be an accepted potential fact.

fenris

Wow - only another 5% and it will be true!

Who needs real proof when you have democracy, astroturfed polls, nukes and cliches!.

Pushtrak

fenris wrote: »

Wow - only another 5% and it will be true!

Who needs real proof when you have democracy, astroturfed polls, nukes and cliches!.

Facts for some, miniature American flags for others?

Nothingbetter2d

how many of those still think Jesus will return to Jerusalem?

Duggys Housemate

rn wrote: »

It would be of no surprise if the majority in Ireland believed in creationism.

Rubbish, people believed in evolution in 1950. The Catholic church is not creationist, although it believes that God started the whole thing, it isn't the 6,000 year protestant thing. In fact I am sure that evolution is commonly believed in all Catholic countries.

EDIT:

20% or so, which is higher than I would have thought. That said, it is similar to the UK and even Japan is 10%

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KCBhXK7psSs/SrH7GjX4FVI/AAAAAAAAACo/tsA7wKci2NQ/s1600-h/440px-Views_on_Evolution.svg.png

flutterflye

That is a terrifying figure! :eek:
I can't understand how they can justify not teaching the facts to kids in schools.
It's craziness.

Duggy747

Education in the US is going down the toilet with so many groups fighting over what stupid shìt should be taught in it, regardless of facts.

That's not to say we don't have people believing in that sort of thing here. Met a girl in college who believed we were 6,000 years old and that mentally handicapped people were bad people reincarnated as punishment. She would then go on to teach religion to children.

I should've gotten a medal for restraint.

fenris

We should probably mount a global push for a temporary flat earth day to even out all of that geological stress that is causing earthquakes and then roll it back up into a ball the next day, it could be a bit rough on the ISS but everybody should be grand provided that they believe strongly enough.

You have to wonder if this is a test case on how civilisations fail, drag your selves out of the mud, organise, inovate, develop until you reach a point where the old tools are holding you back, the tools become more important that the job, cue a big dark age style die off until the retarding influences have been eliminated to a level that survival dictates circumstances that will allow progress to begin again.

The only problem this time is that the retarding elements could outlast the progressive elements in a self fulfilling race ending prophecy.

Wibbs

Shenshen wrote: »

You might want to tell him that there is plenty of evidence, otherwise it wouldn't be a theory but a hypothesis.

Plenty of evidence of what? The non existence of an external influence on the universe, particularly it's creation? As for "before" the big bang all we have is hypotheses and imaginings.

And once he got his head around that, you could point him to Russell's Teapot, just to see if he decides that simply because it can't be disproved it should be an accepted potential fact.

To be fair Russell's teapot while amusing and having some weight is equally full of holes philosophically if one extrapolates it out to encompass any potential universal creator/deity(EDIT I see your link gives such arguments. Missed that ) .

smash

Duggy747 wrote: »

Education in the US is going down the toilet with so many groups fighting over what stupid shìt should be taught in it, regardless of facts.

Was talking to an American guy recently about brainwashing and the American military. He said it's no wonder when every day in school growing up, the first thing you do in the morning is pledge your allegiance to the flag.

Duggys Housemate

Stiffler2 wrote: »

This figure doesn't suprise me tbh.

I'd thought it would have been more like 80%+

have you been to America ?

I've been to America, mostly Seattle and San Francisco, and I thought the figure would be 5%. America is a big place. In fact most of the places Irish people go are fairly liberal.

sbsquarepants

Gnobe wrote: »

So perhaps the hype about America and the world in general turning out to be more secular is a false one??

What hype?
If anything the opposite is hyped, america seems to be getting more and fundamentalist, or divided between believers and atheists at least. For example there would be very little chance of an atheist being elected to high office in america, (in fact look at the number of presidential candidates who claim to speak directly to god, if you done that in europe you'd more likely be commited than elected!) A lot of americans equate holiness with goodness/honesty and so on and basically refuse to accept that an atheist could be moral without god. There is a big advertising campaign going on at the moment to try and change that opinion, but it seems to be fairly ingrained.

Duggys Housemate

OldGoat wrote: »

A friend used science theory to prove the existence of god to me, the bastard.

The multiverse could/must contain a God somewhere, if you assume that the different universes within it don't necessarily have to follow the same laws of physics as our universe, then one of them must have a God if there are an infinite amount. It does depend on whether the multiverses are bound by the same laws as this one - are merely deviations from it because of quantum fluctuations - and the type of infinite series we are talking about.

IrishAm

Ive just conducted a poll. 90% of Irish people would give their right arm to live in America, yet 99% of them bash Americans at any given opportunity.

opinion guy

Pushtrak wrote: »

There is a huge home schooling thing over in the states isn't there? I'd be interested in how the figures look for home school VS public schools. Some interesting things could probably be drawn from that.

planetX wrote: »

who ever said that?

Look to your own before laughing though. The American public school system is secular, unlike in this country where the Catholic church is still prevalent.

But you have certain states mandating that creationist theory should be thought alongside evolution - amongst other things.

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

I've been to America, mostly Seattle and San Francisco, and I thought the figure would be 5%. America is a big place. In fact most of the places Irish people go are fairly liberal.

Seattle and San Francisco are not representative of the US in general. They are very much freak cities in fact. Costal, affluent, democrat. They are also centre of high tech industry (or close enough) and attract lots of educated immigrants (from within and outside the US).
For all we know - the level in those cities is 5% - its just balanced out by a few thousand hicksvilles all over the middle of the US

dyl10

bizmark wrote: »

Rabble Rabble anti american nonsense.

What's nonsense?
Through their foreign policy, they've committed the worst atrocities since the holocaust.

You have posted an article of relatively irrelevant statistics; it creates a link between military spending/size and population size/wealth, assuming a linear relationship between those indicators - which statistically, makes no sense.

It doesn't justify anything, except that the US are comparatively low on some numeric ratios, which do not even reflect the discussion.

The US has had the most aggressive foreign policy since WWII and has both directly and indirectly led to huge casualties on foreign soil, as well as undermining democracy and countless other attributes we value.

As a point aside; it's rather pointless to compare the dichotomy between religious belief and actions against others. We all know religion has been a factor/driver for some of the worst acts/crusades in our collective history.

Pushtrak

IrishAm wrote: »

Ive just conducted a poll. 90% of Irish people would give their right arm to live in America, yet 99% of them bash Americans at any given opportunity.

Well, where ever we'd be we'd be complaining. So, we're getting in to an imagined spirit of living there...

Or, in this case it actually needs to be said.