Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Half of America doesnt believe in Evolution?!?!

ProfessorMayhem · 04-11-2007, 08:32 AM

The religious basis for refusing to accept simple biological facts is largely an American Christian phenomena. As I've observed, the problem in this country is two-fold.

First and foremost, a lot of people don't want to believe that evolution takes place simply because of pure ego. The idea that any given person is in fact not the special creation of some omnipotent father figure can be unsettling for someone brought up in a religious way of life. People tend to have an over-inflated sense of self importance when it comes to our role on this planet. We invent arbitrary reasons with which we imagine ourselves as being "outside" of nature or "above" other organisms on this planet. The fact that we share a common ancestry with organisms that some people consider "beneath" humans causes a lot of people to shun the reality of evolution and natural selection.

Second, biology is a complicated subject. It's easier to reject something outright because of an inability to understand it than it is to actually get off your ass and learn. Creationism offers an easy answer that requires little thought and virtually no compelling evidence, and people like easy answers.

Part of this is the fault of our educations system. When the average person thinks of evolution, they think of that "monkey to man" diagram from old museum displays. They think of evolution as going from single-celled organisms to mammals and higher primates. This isn't even close to what the theory of evolution actually entails. The ridiculously inept understanding of evolution that a lot of people have is easy to reject, because it doesn't make any sense. Most people really aren't going to bother to tackle the aspects of evolutionary biology, anthropology, genetics, zoology, paleontology, etc. required to get a firm grasp on the subject matter.

In short, people are lazy and people are vain. ""Simple and flattering" is preferable to "complex and impartial to one's preconceived notions of religious self-importance." Fortunately, this doesn't change simple observations and objective fact. People can refuse to believe in evolution all they want, it isn't going to change the fact that it happens.

A rejection of gravity isn't going to prevent you from falling on your ass.

04-11-2007, 08:32 AM	#33 (permalink)
ProfessorMayhem Upright Location: Austin, TX	The religious basis for refusing to accept simple biological facts is largely an American Christian phenomena. As I've observed, the problem in this country is two-fold. First and foremost, a lot of people don't want to believe that evolution takes place simply because of pure ego. The idea that any given person is in fact not the special creation of some omnipotent father figure can be unsettling for someone brought up in a religious way of life. People tend to have an over-inflated sense of self importance when it comes to our role on this planet. We invent arbitrary reasons with which we imagine ourselves as being "outside" of nature or "above" other organisms on this planet. The fact that we share a common ancestry with organisms that some people consider "beneath" humans causes a lot of people to shun the reality of evolution and natural selection. Second, biology is a complicated subject. It's easier to reject something outright because of an inability to understand it than it is to actually get off your ass and learn. Creationism offers an easy answer that requires little thought and virtually no compelling evidence, and people like easy answers. Part of this is the fault of our educations system. When the average person thinks of evolution, they think of that "monkey to man" diagram from old museum displays. They think of evolution as going from single-celled organisms to mammals and higher primates. This isn't even close to what the theory of evolution actually entails. The ridiculously inept understanding of evolution that a lot of people have is easy to reject, because it doesn't make any sense. Most people really aren't going to bother to tackle the aspects of evolutionary biology, anthropology, genetics, zoology, paleontology, etc. required to get a firm grasp on the subject matter. In short, people are lazy and people are vain. ""Simple and flattering" is preferable to "complex and impartial to one's preconceived notions of religious self-importance." Fortunately, this doesn't change simple observations and objective fact. People can refuse to believe in evolution all they want, it isn't going to change the fact that it happens. A rejection of gravity isn't going to prevent you from falling on your ass. Last edited by ProfessorMayhem; 04-11-2007 at 08:36 AM..