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Originally Posted by irateplatypus
with whatever respect is due... that really isn't a response to my post. Also, a very small minority of Christian fundamentalists believe the young earth theory. I guess all I have to offer is my own anecdotal evidence... but I'm surrounded by fundamentalists like you wouldn't believe (seriously, i think i would get a few laughs if i told everyone the full story) and I've yet to meet someone who believes the grand canyon was made in 40 days.
it's so much easier to believe such crazy things about people who view the world differently than you.
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My research persuades me that belief in a literal interpretation of genesis is
widespread, as is a belief in "young earth" theory:
Quote:
Beliefs of American adults:
According to Newsweek in 1987, "By one count there are some 700 scientists with respectable academic credentials (out of a total of 480,000 U.S. earth and life scientists) who give credence to creation-science..." That would make the support for creation science among those branches of science who deal with the earth and its life forms at about 0.14% 5 However, the American public thinks very differently.
The Gallup Organizations periodically asks the American public about their beliefs on evolution and creation. They have conducted a poll of U.S. adults in 1982, 1991, 1993 and 1997. By keeping their wording identical, each year's results are comparable to the others.
Results for the 1991-NOV-21 to 24 poll were:
<a http="http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm">http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm</a>
<img src="http://me.to/svr003.gif" width=850 height=1200>
The "scientist" group would presumably include biologists and geologists. But it would also include persons with professional degrees in fields unrelated to evolution, such as computer science, chemical engineering, physics, etc.
Political science professor George Bishop of the University of Cincinnati published a paper in 1998-AUG listing and interpreting 1997 poll data. "Bishop notes that these figures have remained remarkably stable over time. These questions were first asked about 15 years ago, and the percentages in each category are almost identical. Moreover, the profiles of each group has been constant. Just as when these questions were first asked 15 years ago, creationists continue to be older, less educated, Southern, politically conservative, and biblically literal (among other things). Women and African-Americans were more likely to be creationists than whites and men. Meanwhile, younger, better educated, mainline Protestants and Catholics were more likely to land in the middle as theistic evolutionists." 1
With the elderly representing a gradually increasing part of the U.S. population, one would expect that the creationist view would receive increasing support. In fact, there appears to be a gradual erosion of support for the creationist view. It is barely statistically significant. The sample size is about 1,000 so the sampling error is within +/- 3.2%, 19 times out of 20. It will take a decade or two to determine if a significant shift has really happened.
By any measure, the United States remains a highly religious nation, compared to other developed countries. And its citizens tend to hold more conservative beliefs. For example, the percentage of adults who believe that "the Bible is the actual word of God and it is to be taken literally, word for word" is 5 times higher in the U.S. than in Britain. Church attendance is about 4 times higher in the U.S. than it is in Britain. 1 Similarly, according to one opinion poll, belief that "Human beings developed from earlier species of animals..." is much smaller in the United States (35%) than in other countries (as high as 82%).
Beliefs among Internet surfers:
The Christianity section of About.com conducted a poll of its readers during 2000-SEP. They listed two responses which more or less agree with the Creationist, and Theistic Evolution beliefs. Their third response, that Evolution is a fact, would probably have received the votes of most believers in Naturalistic Evolution. Their final option would probably have been selected by some creationists who believe that students should be exposed to all belief systems, and by others who are undecided. Results were:
Belief system Creationist view Theistic evolution Naturalistic Evolution (probably) Neutral
Group of adults Evolution is an unproven theory, contrary to God's revealed truth. Evolution was simly the means God chose to create life on this planet. Evolution is not just a theory, it is a fact. Evolution may be an unproven theory, but it is important enough to merit study in our school systems.
Everyone 27% 15% 50% 8%
These results are based on 2904 votes. The margin of error in this poll is 1.8%. Needless to say, Internet surfers are are not necessarily typical of the general public. 7
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Beliefs among conservative Christians:
In 1999-NOV, Focus on the Family, a Fundamentalist Christian agency, concluded a poll of their web site visitors concerning their beliefs about creation and evolution. Results were:
bullet God created the universe, but I don't know when: 46%
bullet God created the universe thousands of years ago: 43%
bullet God created the universe billions of years ago: 10%
bullet Life came into being and evolved on its own: 1%
bullet I don't have a clue: 0.4% 6
[Author's note: The poll is not particularly well designed; it mixes apples and oranges. The first three options concern when the world came into existence and assumes that God created it. The fourth response concerns evolution of life on earth. A participant in the poll might well believe that God created the world billions of years ago and that life evolved on its own. They would believe in two options, but could mark only one.]
The participants in the poll are self-selected from among the visitors to the Focus web site. They may not represent typical Fundamentalist or other Evangelical Christian practices.
Beliefs elsewhere in the world:
Belief in creation science seems to be largely a U.S. phenomenon. A British survey of 103 Roman Catholic priests, Anglican bishops and Protestant ministers/pastors showed that:
bullet 97% do not believe the world was created in six days.
bullet 80% do not believe in the existence of Adam and Eve. 4
Why do they hold these opinions?
The Wichita Eagle and the Kansas City Star, surveyed 604 respondents on 1999-OCT-22 to 26. Kansas has been a target of much interest and some ridicule after the state Board of Education dropped the necessity of teaching evolution in its public schools. 3 Some interesting comments by Kansans were published. As always, beliefs seem to be derived from people's fundamental interpretation of the Bible:
bullet Auctioneer Gary Corwin said: "I believe that the Lord God created everything, just like the Bible says, I don’t think we came from apes." [Author's note: 95% of scientists support evolution and have reached a consensus that humans did not come from apes either; they believe that humans and apes have a common ancestor.]
bullet The National Center for Science Education, which promotes the teaching of evolution. Spokesperson Eugenie Scott commented: "It goes to the meaning and purpose of life. I think many Americans believe that somehow they are less special to God if they evolved from nonhuman animals." [Author's note: The main alternative to evolution is found in Genesis which states that Adam came from dirt.]
bullet The Rev. Victor Calcote, pastor of Epworth United Methodist Church in Wichita KS stated: "I believe there is a God that’s in control of creation. I’ve never gotten hung up on how he did it." He added: "I don’t appreciate some of the caricatures of Kansans. Just because our school board voted that way doesn’t mean we’re a bunch of bumbling idiots."
bullet A liberal religious source was not interviewed. If someone who was a Unitarian Universalist minister or a Humanist or other secularist were asked, they would probably comment that Genesis is a very beautiful myth, but not a story that should be interpreted literally. The authors of Genesis lived in a pre-scientific era and simply adopted creation legends from their surrounding Pagan societies.
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