Sweet, thanks for the intel Larry. On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 9:32 AM, Larry Lyons <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >I'd be REALLY interested to see what the poll numbers are from other > >countries. Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, China and on. > > > >On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 5:22 PM, Jim Davis <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > Its a bit old, but I think the accompanying charts to this article are real > scary. Of the 36 countries studied, only Turkey had a larger percentage of > people who do not accept evolution. > > http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060810-evolution.html > > and you can see and detail the actual data set here: > http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=507 > > Evolution Less Accepted in U.S. Than Other Western Countries, Study Finds > James Owen > for National Geographic News > August 10, 2006 > > People in the United States are much less likely to accept Darwin's idea > that humans and apes share a common ancestor than adults in other Western > nations, a number of surveys show. > > A new study of those surveys suggests that the main reason for this lies in > a unique confluence of religion, politics, and the public understanding of > biological science in the United States. > > Researchers compared the results of past surveys of attitudes toward > evolution taken in the U.S. since 1985 and similar surveys in Japan and 32 > European countries. > > In the U.S., only 14 percent of adults thought that evolution was > "definitely true," while about a third firmly rejected the idea. > > In European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, and France, more than 80 > percent of adults surveyed said they accepted the concept of evolution. > > The proportion of western European adults who believed the theory > "absolutely false" ranged from 7 percent in Great Britain to 15 percent in > the Netherlands. > > The only country included in the study where adults were more likely than > Americans to reject evolution was Turkey. > > The investigation also showed that the percentage of U.S. adults who are > uncertain about evolution has risen from 7 percent to 21 percent in the past > 20 years. > > Researchers from the U.S. and Japan analyzed additional information from > these surveys in an attempt to identify factors that might help explain why > Americans are more skeptical about evolution. > > Led by Jon D. Miller, a political scientist at Michigan State University, > the team reports its findings in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science. > > American Culture and Evolution > > The team ran a complex analysis of the statistics, testing for a causal > link between aspects of U.S. culture and Americans' attitudes toward > evolution.. > > The study identified three key influences on Americans. > > First, the researchers found that the effect of fundamentalist religious > belief on opinions of evolution was almost twice as much in the U.S. as in > Europe. > > Miller says the U.S. has a tradition of Protestant fundamentalism not found > in Europe that takes the Bible literally and sees the Book of Genesis as an > accurate account of the creation of human life. > > After European Protestants broke off from the Roman Catholic Church in the > 16th century, they retained a hierarchy that remained part of the university > system, Miller says. > > "In the United States, partly because of our frontier history, most of the > Protestant churches are congregationalâ"they don't belong to any > hierarchy," he added. > > "They're free to choose their own ministers and espouse their own beliefs." > > That freedom also included the creation of their own Bible colleges for > training ministers, Miller says. > > "If you send them to a Bible college that teaches only the Bible, they'll > come back preaching only the Bible," he added. > > "There are very few European counterparts to that." > > (Read a National Geographic magazine feature on the evolution of evolution > theory in the United States, "Was Darwin Wrong?") > > European Attitudes > > Second, the researchers tested whether an American's political views > influenced his or her view of evolution theory. > > The team found that individuals with anti-abortion, pro-life views > associated with the conservative wing of the Republican Party were > significantly more likely to reject evolution than people with pro-choice > views. > > The team adds that in Europe having pro-life or right-wing political views > had little correlation with a person's attitude toward evolution. > > The researchers say this reflects the politicization of the evolution issue > in the U.S. "in a manner never seen in Europe or Japan." > > "In the second half of the 20th century, the conservative wing of the > Republican Party has adopted creationism as part of a platform designed to > consolidate their support in Southern and Midwestern states," the study > authors write. > > Miller says that when Ronald Reagan was running for President of the U.S., > for example, he gave speeches in these states where he would slip in the > sentence, "I have no chimpanzees in my family," poking fun at the idea that > apes could be the ancestors of humans. > > When such a view comes from the U.S. President or other prominent political > figures, Miller says, it "lends a degree of legitimacy to the dispute." > > A Natural Selection? > > Third, the study found that adults with some understanding of genetics are > more likely to have a positive attitude toward evolution. > > But, the authors say, studies in the U.S. suggest substantial numbers of > American adults are confused about some core ideas related to 20th- and > 21st-century biology. > > The researchers cite a 2005 study finding that 78 percent of adults agreed > that plants and animals had evolved from other organisms. In the same study, > 62 percent also believed that God created humans without any evolutionary > development. > > Fewer than half of American adults can provide a minimal definition of DNA, > the authors add. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:288356 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
