Not sure that the wording on the question is clear. It asks if people believe in the Theory of Evolution. I believe in the theory, because it's actually documented and taught in schools. But I'm not fully convinced that the theory evolution which claims evolution between species has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

News Link

quote:

---

Darwin's Birthday Poll: Fewer Than 4 in 10 Believe in Evolution

A new poll released just in time for Charles Darwin's 200th birthday found only 39 percent of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution" and just 24 percent of those who attend church weekly believe in the explanation for the origin of life.

The Gallup survey, released Wednesday, found a quarter of those polled do not believe in evolution, and 36 percent say they don't have an opinion either way.

The poll of 1,018 American adults, found strong ties between education level and belief in the theory.

"Among those with high-school educations or less who have an opinion on Darwin's theory, more say they do not believe in evolution than say they believe in it," Gallup found. "For all other groups, and in particular those who have at least a college degree, belief is significantly higher than nonbelief."

Just 21 percent of respondents who had up to a high school level of education believe in evolution, compared with 74 percent of those with postgraduate degrees.

Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief said, attitudes were shaped to an even greater degree by religion.

"Previous Gallup research shows that the rate of church attendance is fairly constant across educational groups, suggesting that this relationship is not owing to an underlying educational difference but instead reflects a direct influence of religious beliefs on belief in evolution," he said.

Among weekly churchgoers, only 24 percent said they believe in evolution, while 41 percent do not and 35 percent have no opinion.

Inversely, 55 percent of those who seldom or never attend church expressed belief in evolution, while 11 percent do not, and 34 percent have no opinion.

---

Null info. People can believe or believe anything they want; none of which has anything to do with reality.

I belive I just turned my coworker into a POS; wait, I did!

quote:

---

Just 21 percent of respondents who had up to a high school level of education believe in evolution, compared with 74 percent of those with postgraduate degrees.

---

Most telling quote.

Educated people dont believe in make believe and fairy tales.

quote:

---

Darwins Birthday Poll: Fewer Than 4 in 10 Believe in Evolution

---

Hardly surprising - Of those that don't believe in Evolution, few could even explain what evolution is.

SB said:

quote:

---

Most telling quote.

Educated people dont believe in make believe and fairy tales.

---

But...

quote:

---

CHICAGO -- A survey examining religion in medicine found that most U.S. doctors believe in God and an afterlife - a surprising degree of spirituality in a science-based field, researchers say.

In the survey of 1,044 doctors nationwide, 76 percent said they believe in God, 59 percent said they believe in some sort of afterlife, and 55 percent said their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine.

---

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/157553/most_doctors_surveyed_believe_in_god/

Probably most of the theist physicians are osteopaths, right? Do you count people who earn medical degrees as educated? What's your degree in, SB?

Is there a difference between "beliving in evolution" and "believing the theory of evolution"? How they ask the question matters to a lot of people.

Why is the origin of life always lumped together with evolution?

quote:

---

Educated people dont believe in make believe and fairy tales.

---

Someone who is truly wise would realize it is foolish to make assumptions like that.

quote:

---

A survey examining religion in medicine found that most U.S. doctors believe in God and an afterlife - a surprising degree of spirituality in a science-based field, researchers say.

---

This is also not surprising - rather trivial. In general, medical doctors are not scientists - most are highly skilled technicians and many of them have very little advanced training in the scientific method. Many also have a very limited education in evolution. The medical field attracts a very different type of person than the fields of research science. Even the research end of medicine is based more on clinical trials and technical issues.

quote:

---

This is also not surprising - rather trivial. In general, medical doctors are not scientists - most are highly skilled technicians and many of them have very little advanced training in the scientific method. Many also have a very limited education in evolution. The medical field attracts a very different type of person than the fields of research science. Even the research end of medicine is based more on clinical trials and technical issues.

---

Couldn't you say that about ANY field? Everyone is highly trained in the exact field they work in.

Doctors are very educated people.

quote:

---

Probably most of the theist physicians are osteopaths, right? Do you count people who earn medical degrees as educated? What's your degree in, SB?

---

What do theology and medicine have to do with each other? Or was that in response to his stupid claim that educated people don't believe in god?

quote:

---

Why is the origin of life always lumped together with evolution?

---

Because there is essentially no evidence for abiogenesis and there may never be any. People point that out and then expand the argument to evolution.

quote:

---

I believe in the theory, because it's actually documented and taught in schools. But I'm not fully convinced that the theory evolution which claims evolution between species has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

---

This doesn't make any sense. The two are one and the same.


Polls like this are useless when polling the general public. I'm sure if you explained to people what the spooky effect was and asked them if it was true that 99% of them would say it wasn't. Ask physicists and the figure will be completely reversed.

quote:

---

Doctors are very educated people

---

Yes they are. I respect them for that, and I am really grateful when I need one that they are so well trained. But Schizmann is correct that most are not trained as scientists. There are plenty of really smart people who don't really understand science.

Back to the OP, if only 40% of people "believe" in evolution than we scientists are failing. Of course Americans in general are more religious and a little more anti-science than our European cousins. However (and this is why I put believe in quotes above) , the evidence supporting the theory of evolution is so overwhelming that I am forced to believe that a vast majority of people who reject it do so because they are ignorant of the actual claims and evidence.

The poll is more telling about the intelligence level of the average American than anything else.

By this I mean that the average non college educated person tends to believe in what he or she was taught as a child, the more educated you are the more likely you are to question your beliefs.



[This message has been edited by Falls Guy (edited 2/12/2009 10:38a).]

quote:

---

There are plenty of really smart people who don't really understand science.

---

And there are plenty of scientist that don't know squat about philosophy.

quote:

---

And there are plenty of scientist that don't know squat about philosophy

---

And this has to do with American acceptance of the theory of evolution how?

I say I think evolution is the best explanation we have as of now. I just don't see the evidence yet to preach that it is the way everything got to be where it's at now, if that makes sense.

quote:

---

I say I think evolution is the best explanation we have as of now. I just don't see the evidence yet to preach that it is the way everything got to be where it's at now, if that makes sense.

---

Too bad you dont use that perspective on religion.

Religion is not a science.

quote:

---

I just don't see the evidence yet to preach that it is the way everything got to be where it's at now, if that makes sense.

---

That's because you don't really know much about it at all.

And there are plenty of scientist that don't know squat about philosophy.
******************
so what are they missing out on?

So you can only use reason when it comes to science, interesting.

This is from the CNN article on the same poll :

quote:

---

Forty-four percent believe that God created human beings almost overnight within the past 10,000 years,

---

This is why our science classrooms should not be subject to popular demand.

If the question were re-phrased as:

"Do you believe that species evolve?"

...I think the outcome would have been very different.

But when asking a Bible-believer "do you believe in the theory of evolution?" the person is likely to interpret the question as "do you believe that life originated by chance?"

Evolutionists tend to distinguish between Evolution and Abiogenesis, but it seems that most religious people tend to see them as inseparable and therefore lump them together.

[This message has been edited by Bracy (edited 2/13/2009 3:29p).]

I think Bracy might be on to something.

quote:

---

If the question were re-phrased as:

"Do you believe that species evolve?"

...I think the outcome would have been very different.

---

Good points, but with the above question you might get the 'wrong' answer from those who accept microevolution but not macroevolution. Perhaps, "Do you believe man evolved from less complex species?" I dunno.

I think it is natural for people to be asked a question like that and respond to the bigger question, "Do you believe the world was created through random chance?"

Of course, then they are participating in philosophy, not science...but eh, what can you do?

quote:

---

Good points, but with the above question you might get the 'wrong' answer from those who accept microevolution but not macroevolution. Perhaps, "Do you believe man evolved from less complex species?" I dunno.

---

True, this is another possibility.

My point is simply that the question "Do you believe in the Theory of Evolution" is much too broad and vague, and therefore the results are misleading.

The question needs to be much more specific to have any real value.

A "Creationist" will almost always focus on origins because the very word itself, "Creation," points to origins: How did the universe originate? How did the earth originate? How did life originate? And so on, whereas an "Evolutionist" focuses on processes that occur after the origin.

[This message has been edited by Bracy (edited 2/13/2009 9:11p).]

quote:

---

I believe in the theory, because it's actually documented and taught in schools. But I'm not fully convinced that the theory evolution which claims evolution between species has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

---

GAH!!!!!

Why is it that folks cannot get it that "theory" in the vernacular is NOT THE SAME as "theory" in science.

The vernacular "theory" is more of a hypothesis. Scientific "theory" is essentially a law. The "law" of gravity is basically Newton's THEORY of universal gravitation.

quote:

---

The poll is more telling about the intelligence level of the average American than anything else.

By this I mean that the average non college educated person tends to believe in what he or she was taught as a child, the more educated you are the more likely you are to question your beliefs.

---

Ah yes, the old "I'm smarter than you are because I think for myself, rather than believing in what Augustine, Aquinas, and other stupid religious people have taught throughout the ages" gambit.

How prideful...


[This message has been edited by Thaddeus73 (edited 2/15/2009 9:18p).]

quote:

---

Why is it that folks cannot get it that "theory" in the vernacular is NOT THE SAME as "theory" in science.

---

Because it shoots down one of their major arguments - That it's "only" a theory.

That and people are simply largely ignorant of science.

quote:

---

Ah yes, the old "I'm smarter than you are because I think for myself, rather than believing in what Augustine, Aquinas, and other stupid religious people have taught throughout the ages" gambit.

---

Stupid religious people?

Sorry, I missed that. Could you please post that quote from me.

quote:

---

As used in science, a theory is an explanation or model based on observation, experimentation, and reasoning, especially one that has been tested and confirmed as a general principle helping to explain and predict natural phenomena.

Any scientific theory must be based on a careful and rational examination of the facts. A clear distinction needs to be made between facts (things which can be observed and/or measured) and theories (explanations which correlate and interpret the facts.)

---

Theories may be good, bad, or indifferent. They may be well established by the factual evidence, or they may lack credibility. Before a theory is given any credence in the scientific community, it must be subjected to "peer review." This means that the proposed theory must be published in a legitimate scientific journal in order to provide the opportunity for other scientists to evaluate the relevant factual information and publish their conclusions.

Creationists refuse to subject their "theories" to peer reviews, because they know they don't fit the facts. The creationist mindset is distorted by the concept of "good science" (creationism) vs. "bad science" (anything not in agreement with creationism). Creation "scientists" are biblical fundamentalists who can not accept anything contrary to their sectarian religioius beliefs.

---

http://www.fsteiger.com/theory.html

Just curious, do the good folks at the Discovery Institute conduct any original scientific research in the field of biology, with the results being published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, or does that outfit exist solely to advocate ID?

quote:

---

Just curious, do the good folks at the Discovery Institute conduct any original scientific research in the field of biology, with the results being published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, or does that outfit exist solely to advocate ID?

---

Shhhhhhhhhh! You're going to blow their cover.