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#1 Creationism in the UK
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 5:19 am
by The Minx
Link
David Attenborough spoke to Andrew Marr about his latest programme - a tribute to Charles Darwin.
He talked about receiving letters from people who were not happy with his opinions on creationism.
What shocked me was the commentator saying that 50% of the British public believe in creationism. I thought stupidity on this scale was limited to the US (at least among western countries), what is going on here?
#2
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:43 pm
by General Havoc
The term "X% of people believe in creationism" is totally meaningless. It potentially covers everything from "I believe in an absolute literal interpretation of the bible" to "I am agnostic and open to the idea that there is a God". There are ways to define creationism such that I am a creationist.
I'd want to know what they mean by it before I start calling people stupid.
#3
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 1:24 pm
by Charon
Have to agree with Havoc here. I'm gonna have to wait until I'm home to watch the video (Curse you school computers!) but I remember awhile back there was a survey that said 80% of Americans believed in Creationism, which is absurd beyond all recognizable standards and I'm pretty sure boiled down to people saying "I believe that God had a hand in the creation of the universe".
#4
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:33 pm
by Batman
While I'm probably mangling the translation, Churchill once said 'I refuse to believe statistics I haven't forged myself.'
ALL a poll saying 50% of britons believe in Creationism means is that, even BEFORE all the modifiers prior posters mentioned, 50% of people POLLED do so.
So how, exactly, was this 50% figure arrived at?
#5
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:44 pm
by General Havoc
I think a better question is "How was Creationism defined to those polled"
You will get drastically different answers to the following two poll questions:
A: Do you believe that God, as described in the Book of Genesis, created the world in seven literal days, and brought wholly into being all species living upon it?
B: Do you believe that God had a hand in the origins of life on Earth?
#6
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:55 pm
by Batman
I think it's a combination of the two, really.