[Kosh]

Sad really

London, Feb 2 (ANI): A new survey has found that half of British adults do not believe in evolution, with at least 22 percent preferring the theories of creationism or intelligent design to explain how the world came about, and many confused about Charles Darwins theory of evolution.

According to a report in the Guardian, the poll, known as The Rescuing Darwin survey, was carried out to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Darwins birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book, On the Origin of Species.

The poll found that 25 percent of Britons believe Charles Darwins theory of evolution is definitely true, with another quarter saying it is probably true.

[redsniper]

Do ho ho, welcome to the club UK.

[Flipside]

As a UK resident, I'm extremely dubious about that poll to be honest, the problem with the UK is that you can adjust percentages depending on where you did the Poll. Also, I think a response to the Guardian article more accurately displays the problem:

Depressing though it is that 22% of British adults believe in creationism (or its deceptive sibling, intelligent design), your headline (Only 25% of Britons believe Darwin's theory of evolution, 2 February) is misleading. You report that 25% say evolution is "definitely true" and another "quarter" say it is "probably true". But it is a basic tenet of science that theories can be disproved but not proved; no matter how great the evidence, or how personally convinced, many scientists would balk at saying evolution is "definitely" true. Perhaps your respondents understand more than their interrogators.
Professor Nicholas J Radcliffe

I could do this poll in one area of Britain and get an 80-90% Evolution Result, I could do it in other areas and get a 10-20% Evolution Result,

Edit: For example, Stoke Newington is populated mostly by Jewish and Islamic faiths, if I did the poll there, I'd get wildly different results to, say Cambridge. Population surveys in the UK are pretty unreliable unless you take a massive sample because of the vast diversity of cultures, particularly in the cities.

[Polpolion]

Yeah, I agree with Flipside. I really doubt that poll was accurate.

[Galemp]

noooooo

[watsisname]

As a UK resident, I'm extremely dubious about that poll to be honest, the problem with the UK is that you can adjust percentages depending on where you did the Poll.

Indeed.  I despise it when polls, or articles regarding polls, if they don't provide specifics of how they were carried out.  This article doesn't seem to mention anything of the sort, so I denounce these data as tosh.

[redsniper]

Alright, so the next time someone mentions such-and-such percentage of Americans believing in creationism I can just write it off as the poll being inaccurate and cite this thread.

[karajorma]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/feb/02/evolution-creationism-darwin-theos

[Janos]

Alright, so the next time someone mentions such-and-such percentage of Americans believing in creationism I can just write it off as the poll being inaccurate and cite this thread.

the problem is that ID and other crap is politically relevant in the America, which has not been such a big deal in UK

popularity or ideology per se are not as dangerous as the ideas becoming dominant in politics.

[Solatar]

Popular notions of Intelligent Design is varied "Things evolved, God just had a helping hand here and there" "God started it and let it evolve by itself" and "God guided evolution, but didn't directly affect it".

Those are just examples of what people have told me they think, and while they all claim to be ID, they range from dressed up Creationism to Deism. People (not scientifically educated people) see ID as "I can believe in evolution, AND acknowledge that God might have done a little". To label the official movement as dressed up Creationism is accurate, but not everybody that claims to support ID really understands what it is.

EDIT: I'm in the American South, by the way.

[Mars]

Speaking as someone who lives in the Western United states, in my daily life, there aren't that many people who believe in ID. That doesn't mean I'm more accurate than the polls that say that more then half of Americans do.

[karajorma]

To label the official movement as dressed up Creationism is accurate, but not everybody that claims to support ID really understands what it is.

Remarkably few do actually. I've asked proponents of ID to explain it to me several times and in the end I had to explain it to them because I understood it better.

Which does raise the question of how on Earth you can be in favour of it when you don't actually understand what it is?

[Solatar]

My point exactly. When somebody answers ID in a survey, they really mean "I think God had some part in it, but I'm not sure how much, but he did SOMETHING (however small or large)". THAT should be an option for people to select; we'd see less "support" for ID almost immediately.

[Flipside]

Exactly, it also depends on the wording of the questions, I believe in Evolution, but I wouldn't say that I can rule out entirely the existence of some kind of Deity, partly because scientific method will not allow me to rule it out entirely until it's been wholly disproved and partly because, in their heart, just about everyone believes in this kind of Myth mash.

Under the terms of that poll, this would make me 'not believe' in Evolution, which is wholly untrue, I believe in infinite possibilities, but that doesn't make me religious, maybe it makes me hopeful, but then, who isn't, and I certainly don't believe in either a 'creationist' kind of God or a 'Judgemental' kind either, I don't feel any urge to pray to a Deity to fix my life, because that's simply trying to remove responsibility from myself.

If you include people who support evolution, but refuse to rule out God entirely, then the numbers move to 78%, which I could accept.

[karajorma]

Bear in mind that evolution and religion are not exclusive. It's only evolution and Young Earth Creationism that are incompatible.

Like many things it's all in the question you ask. If you went out on the same street and asked the same people "Do you believe the world is four billion years old like scientists say or four thousand like some Christians say" I very much doubt you'd get 10% of people saying the latter.

[Roanoke]

I wouldn't say I "believe" in evolution because, to me, that implies it to be a faith of somekind. I accept it as the most likely scientific explanation thus far.

I'm not a person to take things on faith. Like David Attenburgh said, in Africa there's a worm that lives exclusively by burrowing in the eyes of people and causes blindness. How can a benign creator allow such a thing ?
I also got the impression, from his TV programme recently, that it's the idea of man having dominion over all other creatures that DA couldn't accept.

[blackhole]

Religion is all bullsh*t, but I usually don't have a problem with people following a religion until they start telling me what to do.

[Mars]

Religion is just like any mental oddity, it's not a problem until it starts to effect your daily life.

[Solatar]

Religion is all bullsh*t, but I usually don't have a problem with people following a religion until they start telling me what to do.

A person's rights end where another person's begin (can't recall who said that).

I hate people who tell me my religion is "stupid" and I hate people who tell me my religion isn't "the right one".

Equal hate is my policy.

[blackhole]

I hate people who tell me my religion is "stupid" and I hate people who tell me my religion isn't "the right one".

Please notify me when gay people stop getting thrown out of their own houses because their parents are stupid religious idiots, and we can start about it.