Another possible explanation for the percent of those believing in creation staying constant while the number of those reporting no religious belief increases is that the number of those reporting no religious belief has benefitted from the low hanging fruit: those who didn't believe but were afraid to admit it under the cultural norms of previous years. Even with an anonymous survey, cultural norms may affect what we are willing to admit. Under the current cultural norms, it is seen as less of a negative to hold no religious belief and people are more comfortable reporting their lack of belief. So there could be a stable number of believers and non-believers but the cultural conditions determine how willing they are to admit their beliefs or non-beliefs. The reason the cultural norms would have less effect on the reporting of specific creation beliefs is because those who believe in something specific like creation are not likely to be among the low hanging fruit (those who don't believe but haven't wanted to admit it).
Another more concise way of saying this is that the percent of hard line believers and unbelievers may not change very quickly but those in the middle may move back and forth based on changing cultural norms. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor of Psychology Box 3519 John Brown University 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [email protected] (479) 524-7295 http://bit.ly/DrFroman -----Original Message----- From: Mike Palij [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 3:42 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Michael Palij Subject: RE: [tips] The Future Of Funding Biomedical Research Is Bleak... On Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:46:51 -0700, Marc Carter wrote: >What are we doing wrong? Nothing. But we're fighting religiously-motivated >belief, and that's a fight not easily won. I'll keep up the fight, but I'm not >betting the farm on winning it soon... Okay, but let me point out a puzzle: Why does the percentage of people with antievolution/creationist beliefs stay constant over the past 30 years while the number of people reporting "no religious belief" has increased? For changes in religious affiliation over time see: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx In the table below the figure, comparing 1982 vs 2012, we have 8% for no belief vs. 14%, respectively. The number of people who say they have no belief has almost doubled. So, why has the number of people espousing an anti-evolution/creationist view remained the same? Have people with no religious belief started to adopt a "young earth theory"? If so, why? This makes no sense outside of a literal interpretation of the Bible. Or, possibly, people without a specific religious belief have accepted such a belief uncritically. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Palij [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 12:21 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Cc: Michael Palij > Subject: [tips] The Future Of Funding Biomedical Research Is Bleak... > > But don't take my word for it, consider this editorial from the > Journal of the American Medical Association; see: > http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1675581&utm_source= > S > ilverchair%20Information%20Systems&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=JAMA% > 3 > AOnlineFirst04%2F04%2F2013 > > The article identifies four factors for why funding biomedical > research is in danger (there's no increase in funding this coming year > and the sequestration is cutting about 5.1% of current funding). > Of course, this will affect psychology in a variety of ways from > neuroscience research to research on psychopathology. > > So, what's the teaching of psychology have to do with it? > Consider the first reason for the erosion of support for funding: > > |First, there is increasing politicization of science in general. > |Despite the massive explanatory power of science and the ability of > |scientific discovery to create amazing inventions that have > |positively transformed many lives-from computers and cell phones to > |vaccines and robotic prosthetics-there is an increasing uncertainty > |in the United States about the value of science. Recent polls show > |that 46% of Americans believe that human beings were created "pretty > |much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years > |or so."3 One researcher reported that while "public trust in science > |has not declined since the 1970s except among conservatives and those > |who frequently attend church," there has still been a significant > |"politicization" of science.4 Politicization of science means that > |federal funding of science is more contentious and can no longer be > |considered an area of bipartisan agreement. > > Here is the report from Gallup on Americans with anti-evolution > beliefs: > http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/hold-creationist-view-human- > origins.aspx > > NOTE: the percentage of people who are anti-evolution has stayed more > or less the same for the past 30 years that this polling has been done. > > Even 46% of college graduates are anti-evolution. What are we doing > wrong? --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8a&n=T&l=tips&o=24771 or send a blank email to leave-24771-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=24775 or send a blank email to leave-24775-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
