CBS Poll: Creationism Trumps Evolution

[Thucydides]

Originally posted by Gibsie
You shouldn't give Creationists ammo to whine about being personally attacked. Plus they aren't mutually exclusive entirely- I have a biochemist friend doing a PhD who believes in Creationism. Just imagine that- someone of PH's calibre belieiving in Creationism

how the hell? I can understand how most people can believe creationism because it's convenient and belief or disbelief doesn't actually effect decision making on a practical day to day level. But a biochemist? Who would give him a PHD with his beliefs? How can someone exist with that level of cognitive dissonance?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Gibsie
Imperial College.

Then he cheated on the tests.

Creationism and intelligence simply cannot exist in the same person.

[Gibsie]

Oh come on, get a grip. It's certain that he believes in Creationism as a result of his upbringing, but to insult his intelligence and integrity or suggest that someone should not be allowed to earn a PhD because of their religious beliefs is just not on.

[Agathon]

Yes it was.

No because while the evidence pointed the way of evolution, we had no idea of how it really worked.

DNA made it as close to a certainty as you could want.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Bottom line: Creationists and Evolutionists are equally intelligent on average. We are all human and we all have the same capacity for learning. What makes the difference is our upbringing and where we get our education. This has the greatest influence on what we believe.

[SpencerH]

I know lots of PhD's who believe in creationism (in various forms).

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Originally posted by SpencerH
I know lots of PhD's who believe in creationism (in various forms).

Yes, I know one. The pastor of my church has a PhD.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Does anyone here besides me know that half of all scientists are creationists? 'Tis true.

[Thucydides]

Originally posted by Mr. Nice Guy
Bottom line: Creationists and Evolutionists are equally intelligent on average. We are all human and we all have the same capacity for learning. What makes the difference is our upbringing and where we get our education. This has the greatest influence on what we believe.

Can you realistically name any place outside of Bob Jones University where a higher education causes even more belief in creationism? I think education almost universally increases acceptance of evolution. This of course is not because evolution is a bias but because evolution is the reasoned position on the processes of life. For something to be bias it would have to be unreasoned, which would preclude evolution.

[Kuciwalker]

I am biased - towards truth.

[Thucydides]

Originally posted by Mr. Nice Guy
Does anyone here besides me know that half of all scientists are creationists? 'Tis true.

I know your just joking, but it's interesting to look at the stats anyway. Check out

http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/atheism1.htm

The follow-up study reported in "Nature" reveals that the rate of belief is lower than eight decades ago. The latest survey involved 517 members of the National Academy of Sciences; half replied. When queried about belief in "personal god," only 7% responded in the affirmative, while 72.2% expressed "personal disbelief," and 20.8% expressed "doubt or agnosticism." Belief in the concept of human immortality, i.e. life after death declined from the 35.2% measured in 1914 to just 7.9%. 76.7% reject the "human immortality" tenet, compared with 25.4% in 1914, and 23.2% claimed "doubt or agnosticism" on the question, compared with 43.7% in Leuba's original measurement. Again, though, the highest rate of belief in a god was found among mathematicians (14.3%), while the lowest was found among those in the life sciences fields -- only 5.5%.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Mr. Nice Guy


Yes, I know one. The pastor of my church has a PhD.

I'll rephrase. I know lots of PhD-level scientists working in biomedical research who believe in creationism (in various forms).

[St Leo]

Originally posted by nostromo


I'm not. But you have to admit that there was a particularly large concentration of communists in the USSR at the time. And Lysenko and his lackeys rejected medelian genetics because they thought it conflicted with the communist world view.

Indeed. Of course, eventually, USSR politicians stopped backing Lysenka and sane mendelian genetics took hold.

[Arrian]

There's creationism and then there's creationism, as far as I'm concerned.

I can understand intelligent people believing in God, and believing that God created the universe... and that things kinda went from there, possibly with God tinkering along the way.

I cannot understand an intelligent person who believes that everything we see around us was created exactly this way by God ~6000 yrs ago.

-Arrian

[Nostromo]

I know lots of PhD's who believe in creationism (in various forms).

In other words, they believe in God and they believe he wilfully created the Universe? Most people who believe in God believe something like that. But I sure hope they don't believe the fundamentalist version of creationism, which is the bible account.