| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Maria Underwood" |
| Date: |
19 Aug 2003 01:06:38 PM |
| Object: |
Intellectual v. Religious Beliefs |
The link below is to a NY Times editorial that cites a stunning poll
stating U.S. citizens are three times as likely to believe in the
virgin birth
of Jesus (83 percent) as in evolution (28 percent). Can this be true?
If
asked, I would have guessed maybe 33% believe in a virgin birth, and
at least
60% in evolution. Am I really that far out of touch with the U.S.
mainstream? I suppose I am...but I share the editorialist's concern
that such a
divide between intellectual and religious thinking is unhealthy and
dangerous.
Crafty
======================
Believe It, or Not
August 15, 2003
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
One of the most poisonous divides is the one between intellectual and
religious America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/15/opinion/15KRIS.html?ex=1062294087&ei=1&en=e71d5ee62cd9d136
_________________________________________________________________
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| User: "splitwheels" |
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| Title: Re: Intellectual v. Religious Beliefs |
19 Aug 2003 11:13:42 PM |
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(SReeseMe) wrote in message news:<20030819144238.21175.00000229@mb-m10.aol.com>...
The link below is to a NY Times editorial that cites a stunning poll
stating U.S. citizens are three times as likely to believe in the
virgin birth
of Jesus (83 percent) as in evolution (28 percent). Can this be true?
if
asked, I would have guessed maybe 33% believe in a virgin birth, and
at least
60% in evolution. Am I really that far out of touch with the U.S.
mainstream? I suppose I am...but I share the editorialist's concern
that such a
divide between intellectual and religious thinking is unhealthy and
dangerous.
Crafty
I agree, its very unhealthy and very, very dangerous. Every time I hear
theists bleet that they don't "believe" in evolution I shudder at how deeply
has our educational system failed them (and us) that they think of science the
same way they think of their religion. Or they bleet "evolution is just a
theory." Yes it is, the theory of gravity is "just a theory" too, try not
believing in it and see how far it gets you.
In a perfect world Carl Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" would be used as a text
book in every school in the country. Hell in a perfect world James Randi would
be treated as a national treasure. Too bad we don't live in a perfect world,
looks like will have to build one.
-- Stephen
The theory of Evolution has great predictive power. Like how bacteria
evolve to overcome antibiotics, etc. Where Creationism has no
predictive power. However the appeal of Creationism is that is gives
reasons WHY we are here, where Evolution explains HOW we are here. I
don't think it will ever be resolved either way.
SW
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| User: "quibbler" |
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| Title: Re: Intellectual v. Religious Beliefs |
19 Aug 2003 10:15:24 PM |
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In article <1ed7dfd7.0308191006.6d49a482@posting.google.com>,
Crafty_Sistah@yahoo.com says...
The link below is to a NY Times editorial that cites a stunning poll
stating U.S. citizens are three times as likely to believe in the
virgin birth
of Jesus (83 percent) as in evolution (28 percent). Can this be true?
Frankly, I don't believe some of those polls about evolution. It think
that many people are quite ignorant on the subject. But I think that the
poll is definitely not being conducted right if they just ask something
like, do you think we evolved or were created. That approach would
produce very biased results.
If
asked, I would have guessed maybe 33% believe in a virgin birth, and
at least
60% in evolution. Am I really that far out of touch with the U.S.
mainstream? I suppose I am...but I share the editorialist's concern
that such a
divide between intellectual and religious thinking is unhealthy and
dangerous.
As far as the virgin birth thing I think most people respond to the poll
the way they believe they are "supposed to" answer. If you pressed them
at all about how ancient people would know the birth was from a virgin
asked them whether they understood the dispute in translation over
whether Mary was a virgin, asked them whether they thought a person might
make up a story like virgin birth, or pointed out that hundreds of gods
and heros in different folk tales were similarly "born of a virgin", then
perhaps you would get different results.
--
_____________________________________________________
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
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| User: "Al Klein" |
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| Title: Re: Intellectual v. Religious Beliefs |
23 Aug 2003 10:53:24 AM |
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On Tue, 19 Aug 2003 21:15:24 -0600, quibbler <quibbler247@yahoo.com>
posted in alt.atheism:
Frankly, I don't believe some of those polls about evolution. It think
that many people are quite ignorant on the subject. But I think that the
poll is definitely not being conducted right if they just ask something
like, do you think we evolved or were created. That approach would
produce very biased results.
It's virtually impossible to produce a totally unbiased poll.
Especially when the question boils down to "Do you 'believe in'
something that's known to be a fact?"
--
"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."
- Isaac Asimov
(random sig, produced by SigChanger)
rukbat at optonline dot net
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| User: "xyzzy" |
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| Title: Re: Intellectual v. Religious Beliefs |
20 Aug 2003 04:50:22 AM |
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On 19 Aug 2003 18:42:38 GMT, (SReeseMe) wrote:
In a perfect world Carl Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" would be used as a text
book in every school in the country. Hell in a perfect world James Randi would
be treated as a national treasure.
Well said, my thoughts exactly.
My guess is that, presently, 95%+ of university graduates in science,
engineering and social disciplines would probably be unable to design
a very simple experiment to test very common and simple everyday
phenomena and properly interpret the results as well as estimate the
errors and limitations. This translates to the inability to tell fact
from fiction in everyday life.
Randi type material and investigation would be the perfect way to
teach young people about critical thinking and about the proper
methodology to conduct experiments and observations while keeping the
subject simple and interesting.
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