Pat Robertson challenges Young Earth Creationism

[Main_Brain]

Who is Pat Robertson again? The Vampire Actor or the Thriller Author?

[Imran Siddiqui]

that 46% figure can't be true, can it? please tell me it isn't true

It sounds like a lot of the 46% parrot what they may have been told, but haven't really thought all that deeply about the subject.

[-Jrabbit]

Who is Pat Robertson again? The Vampire Actor or the Thriller Author?

Neocon evangelical Christian preacher and TV mogul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson

[MrFun]

It sounds like a lot of the 46% parrot what they may have been told, but haven't really thought all that deeply about the subject.

Or it's just that many of those 46 percent can't think, period.

[regexcellent]

Believing creationism or young earth creationism or whatever isn't something that really bothers me. I mean, I can't actually think of a situation where knowing evolutionary biology has mattered for me.

[MrFun]

Believing creationism or young earth creationism or whatever isn't something that really bothers me. I mean, I can't actually think of a situation where knowing evolutionary biology has mattered for me.

Willful ignorance in the face of facts and evidence does not bother you?

[DaShi]

It has more to do with the ability to think critically.

[Hauldren Collider]

Willful ignorance in the face of facts and evidence does not bother you?

If those facts are not relevant, who cares? Most people don't ever make decisions based on evolutionary biology. If they are wrong about it, it is of no consequence. There are much more disturbing cases of willfull ignorance that have dire consequences for millions of people. For instance, the Democratic Party's willfull ignorance of elementary microeconomics.

[-Jrabbit]

HC, are you really suggesting that teaching unsupported fairy tales such as young-earth creationism as fact, while dismissing fact-based science as wrong, isn't harmful to the education process? Don't you agree that the willful denial of evidence and logic leads to ignorant, ill-informed adults?

There are, in fact, consequences.

[regexcellent]

First of all, it's more a case of deliberate ignorance than anything else. Something almost everyone is guilty of.

Second, while it's mildly distressing to see people ignore obvious evidence, it's just not a big deal. Like, the purpose of the education process is to prepare people to enter the workforce, plain and simple. Just about everyone who needs to know evolutionary biology knows it and understands it. I find it hard to get worked up about that when there are much more important things people aren't learning.

[Elok]

I remain mystified at the strength of the literalist turn that the evangelical movement took.

I think a good part of this (and other stark fundy stances, e.g. the Chik-fil-A business) is simple class resentment. These people know that the highly educated "elites" give little consideration to their POV--or to anything about them, really--so they double down and take a ridiculously extreme stand to avoid any common ground with their enemy. This causes media, celebrities and other elements of mainstream culture to hold them in even greater contempt, which makes them cling more stubbornly, and on and on it goes.

I'd also note that taking one foolish position does not make one a complete and unalloyed fool. The ultimate example is Isaac Newton, who was a dedicated alchemist when he wasn't busy inventing most of physics.

[Hauldren Collider]

HC, are you really suggesting that teaching unsupported fairy tales such as young-earth creationism as fact, while dismissing fact-based science as wrong, isn't harmful to the education process? Don't you agree that the willful denial of evidence and logic leads to ignorant, ill-informed adults?

There are, in fact, consequences.

I absolutely agree, people who lobby for their religion to be taught in schools completely suck. But most creationists recognize that their beliefs are part of their religion, and while they might sympathize with having it taught in schools, don't push for it. I know plenty of creationists, and from my experience they aren't actually any dumber on average than anyone else.

What our education system is missing, though, is not "science education", it's actual science. We need people to have basic statistical literacy and understand evidence. Case in point: If Oerdin and MrFun had basic statistical literacy, they would post half as many threads

[Dinner]

It's interesting that even Pat Robertson has figured out they've gotten to crazy for most Americans. It's actually a good sign and it might mean the Republicans could take a step back and start moving back to sanity. If they were the same party they were in 1980 and not so extreme on the social issues then they would have easily won in 2012 and might even have won in 2008.

[Hauldren Collider]

Oerdin, liberals like you called Reagan a radical extremist in 1980 and now that everyone likes him he's a paragon of the long-lost age of the reasonable Republicans. You're full of ****, as is that entire talking point.

When it came to domestic policy, George Bush was practically a Democrat between expanding Medicare and pushing federal education reform. Yet he's cited as the rising extremism of the right, despite his collaboration with a Democratic state legislature in the 90s.

Democrats invented a complete fantasy of Mitt Romney's political positions with all manner of hyperbole ("vampire"), and only retreated to "flip flopper" when that fantasy collapsed after the first debate. You just label those you disagree with as extremist as a way of justifying to yourself the fact that you completely ignore their point of view.

[Alexander's Horse]

Oerdin, liberals like you called Reagan a radical extremist in 1980 and now that everyone likes him he's a paragon of the long-lost age of the reasonable Republicans.

I lived through that period and he is still an extremist radical to me. The crazy dumb bastard nearly started world war III.