I've read what I consider some credible analyses of these types of polls
suggesting that they do not accurately reflect actual beliefs. This is
in part because of the way questions are designed, and in part because
in matters of dogmatic belief, people often answer pollsters in a manner
consistent with what they think they _should_ believe, not necessarily
what they _do_ believe. So I don't particularly trust the numbers in
these polls, even though I do think the actual numbers are far higher
than I'd like!
In any case, I did treat creationism in the U.S. and belief in
homeopathy in Europe as examples where there was public acceptance of
pseudoscience (and in the latter case, institutionally acceptance). I'm
certainly not saying that any country in the world is fully enlightened
scientifically (certainly not the U.S.), only that it is unrealistic to
think that the public and institutional views of science are the same,
or even close to the same, in all countries. They are not.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "batkol" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Chris Peterson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Family Claims
MeteoriteFellInTheirCourtyardinIndia
"Furthermore, even amongst the general public, there seems to
be an understanding of what makes an expert credible, and unscientific
beliefs are largely kept separate from scientific beliefs."
where do you live?
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:
Belief system Creationist view Theistic evolution Naturalistic
Evolution
Group of adults God created man pretty much in his present form
at one time within the last 10,000 years. Man has developed over
millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided
this process, including man's creation. Man has developed over
millions of years from less advanced forms of life. God had no part in
this process.
Everyone 47% 40% 9%
Men 39% 45% 11.5%
Women 53% 36% 6.6%
College graduates 25% 54% 16.5%
No high school diploma 65% 23% 4.6%
Income over $50,000 29% 50% 17%
Income under $20,000 59% 28% 6.5%
Caucasians 46% 40% 9%
African-Americans 53% 41% 4%
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