In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth (where's Wallace??!!) lots of interesting things have been popping up regarding evolution, but this totally stunned me. I really can't believe it. Only 14% of Americans believe in strict evolution - 36% and 44% believe some type of guidance or intervention. Now, I have no beef with believers and faith (I take the Jamesian approach to faith and belief - if it works, more power to you), but SERIOUSLY?? I think an honest scientist would admit that there is no "conclusive" proof of human evolution, and the question of the transition from chemical life (bacteria, molecules, etc.) to sentient life (how complex organisms, consciousness, etc.) is still very much unresolved, but SERIOUSLY?? Worse still is the fact that 54% think that Creationism should be taught in public school SCIENCE classes. Creationism is a philosophy of human origins - it has ZERO merit as a scientific explanation of anything: not a testable or verifiable hypothesis, and effectively no tangible, physical, or empirical evidence (unless you count the Genesis story). Now if you want to introduce a philosophy or theology curriculum in public schools, sweet! (And theology broadly, obvs, with all the biggies covered, though this gets into superthorny issues of what is "biggie" - Scientology? Mormonism? I guess if they make the cut for the Super Best Friends they're good.) But no place in a science classroom.
Things like this always are helpful for reminding me how we get into so much silly sh** in this country.
