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The latest Harris Poll, "What People Believe In", yielded some truly amazing data. For instance, we learn that 80% of Americans believe in God. No big deal. Over 50% of us believe that all or most of the Bible is the Literal Word Of God. American Christians are more likely to believe in Ghosts than Evolution. Among American Protestants, we find there is an equal likelihood of believing in evolution as there is witches.
All in all, I find these results pretty off-putting. I have difficulty accepting that so many of my fellow Citizens can have such a provincial mind set. Then again, with a moments reflection, I think about Rightwing personalities like Sarah Palin, Bill Donohoe, James Dobson, and it becomes all too easy to believe…
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Thanks for posting this, like you I find most of it pretty disturbing. I guess I take some comfort from the fact that those who believe in evolution, plus those who are undecided, far out-number those who say they do not believe. Since the undecideds likely are those who haven’t given it a lot of thought, at least it suggests they are reachable.
I confront this reality every day in my college classes. I teach a General Education course in Biological Anthropology that deals with Evolution and it’s relationship to human beings. Despite my warnings that students should consider taking another Bio-Sci course like Botany if they are Creationists and literalist believers in the Bible, they still come in. Many are confrontational, give me terrible course reviews for my “close mindedness” for not wanting to introduce Creationism in the course. that I teach “atheism”, etc. In reality I only expect that they don’t “take over” the curriculum with diatribes (and I challenge their “facts” and claims…which are usually strait out of Jack Chick comics) and to understand the scientific evidence and theories which are supported by that evidence.
I spoken with other GE level teachers of similar courses and have found similar issues. The problem is that lecturers at our University are hired/fired largely on the basis of student evaluations…and you can imagine what happens if there is a pool of 50% who find the subject matter and curriculum itself being taught offensive and antagonistic to their world-views.
Well, it is part of our Christian doctrine, to believe in the Holy Ghost. Not sure why that’s so surprising.
Christians believe in spiritual beings…uh, yes.