Author Topic: Most Americans Favor Teaching Creationism  (Read 550 times)

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Offline Anonymous

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Most Americans Favor Teaching Creationism
« on: August 30, 2005, 05:40:00 PM »
A new Pew Research Center poll finds that "about half the public (48%) says that humans and other living things have evolved over time, while 42% say that living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time."

Nonetheless, "most Americans (64%) say they are open to the idea of teaching creationism along with evolution in the public schools, and a substantial minority (38%) favors replacing evolution with creationism in public school curricula... Even many who are politically liberal and who believe in evolution favor expanding the scope of public school education to include teaching creationism."

However, "an analysis of the poll also reveals that there are considerable inconsistencies between people's beliefs and what they want taught in the schools, suggesting some confusion about the meaning of terms such as 'creationism' and 'evolution.'"

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This is just sad.  :eek:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Most Americans Favor Teaching Creationism
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2005, 05:53:00 PM »
How to lie with statistics:

#1. Make up a shitty poll with ambiguous questions.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Most Americans Favor Teaching Creationism
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2005, 06:03:00 PM »
#2. Interpret the answers to fulfill your agenda. Case in point: 64% favor the idea of teaching creationism along with theories of evolution.

Did they say they favored teaching it? Or did they say they favored THE IDEA of teaching it. The first means, yes, they favor teaching it. The second could mean they are open to discussion on the subject.

When people are answering a poll wrt "creationism", are they thinking Adam and Eve? There is more than one creation story in the Bible itself! Maybe people just like the idea that everything was "created" rather than arising "spontaneously" from the Big  Bang, or whatever. Did the poll get specific on which creation story to teach? There are many creation stories from many cultures.

Do they want "creationism" taught in the science classroom, where clearly it does not belong? Or do they want it taught in Social Studies, where it fits a little better?

It seems that the creators of this poll are even stupider than the people they are polling seem to be! Of course, I have not read the original poll and interpretation.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »