A University of Texas and Texas Tribune poll has found that roughly one in three Texans believe that humans and dinosaurs walked the Earth at the same time and more than half reject the theory of evolution. According to the poll, 38 percent agreed with the statement “God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago.”
Another 38 percent said human beings developed over millions of years with God guiding the process while another 12 percent said that development happened without God having any part of the process.
An amazing 51 percent disagreed with the statement, “human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals.” Only thirty-five percent agreed with that statement.
The Texas school system has called for greater Bible reading in schools, here.
For the full story, click here
Mespo,
I guess I fall somewhere in between. I believe in a Creator(s) (because I don’t believe that we evolved from space dust), but I don’t believe that Creator(s) does much more than make design changes and then let the chips fall where they may.
I also don’t call the changes to the “Camaro”, evolution. 🙂
James:
“Another name for god in this context is called “real life,” that arena in which you refuse to dwell.”
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I am waiting for our erstwhile hillbilly to explain to me how a compassionate, all-knowing, all-powerful, anthropomorphic God who involves himself in the pitiful lives of we on Earth, could permit Haitian schoolchildren to be crushed at their desks, or imprisoned for days in caustic rubble awaiting HUMAN salvation, and still face his followers on Sunday. Any ideas?
Since Occam’s Razor was mentioned….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQJrud71gL8&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
Also, Davisofapes, nothing existed before 10,000 years ago? Really?
I don’t claim to be an intellectual. I live in the south, up in the mountains, too, but even I realize the Earth is much older.
Do you use any source other than the bible to glean that opinion? I’m not trying to be snarky. Is there really any source other than the bible that supports that idea?
davisoftheapes1, I’m not buying the “I’m dumb” act. I do buy the attempt to manipulate opinion through guilt-ridden sarcasm.
It is not “elite” to want to understand the universe in terms other than the bible.
Statements such as “jeebus is perfect” ring hollow. It is a non-statement, that bully you have run to in your mind to not only beat us up, but DAMN US TO HELL. But hey, it’s not you, you didn’t piss god off, not your fault…
You run there because you cannot face the possibility you may not know everything, and that by all accounts your perfect god is an abominable bi-polar asshole who does not care ONE FIG what happens to you or anyone else. Another name for god in this context is called “real life,” that arena in which you refuse to dwell.
You are free to believe what you want. And I will do everything within my own rights to prevent your magic-thinking to continue to form the basis of our shared public policy. So feel free to shove a sock in the god-bluff-talk. Ain’t buyin your act, son.
Justice Scalia dissed the Governor of Texas, a fellow to-the-righter, recently.
There is such a thing as trickle down memes …
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2010/02/scalia-disses-perry-few-tea-baggers.html
Sorry, davisoftheapes. I only argue with those who have opposable thumbs. That and I trust mespo will adequately clean your clock. Enjoy your pending drubbing. I know I will. Salut!
davisoftheapes1:
“Maybe one of you intellectuals might enlighten me on anthropic constants, irreducible complexity, lack of transitory fossils, the astronomically “impossible” odds of information equivalent to 1,000 complete sets of the Encyclopedia Britainica being imbedded in EACH MOLECULE of DNA.”
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These poor excuses for teleological arguments have been refuted since the time of Epicurus and Lucretius and by the most learned men of their respective successive eons. There is no point in “enlightening” you since a pre-requisite to enlightenment is the cold, stern realization that you might not know everything — or at least a magic book written before man knew what a microbe or a pixel was doesn’t hold the sum total of the world’s wisdom. If you want to know the truth you won’t get it from Rick Warren.
To correct just one badge of ignorance, transitory fossils have been around for quite some time:
http://florida-sportsman-magazine.com/are-these-enough-transitional-fossils-for-you-if-not-what-the-heck-is-it-you-want/
Patric, I don’t have an answer for your question. I do believe that God knows what he is doing and is outside of the of confines of time. He is omnipresent in the past, present and future. I believe that God makes no mistakes. I’ve often wondered about the people on the North American continent 2K years ago. I don’t believe that God will send anybody to hell “just because” they have not heard about the Gospel, but, rather the law of God is written in men’s hearts. He’ll judge and we are not charged with that responsibility. In a pre-emptive strike for the coming barrage from Bdaman and Buddah is laughing, my statement is that Jesus Christ said in John 14:1 and following that “I am the way, the truth and the life. NO man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The plain truth is that either he is correct, or a liar. I believe he is correct.
I’m somewhat amused by people from up North assuming that they are smarter than us hillbillies and the mindset of the culturally elite looking down on folks like me who really admire Sarah Palin, traditional values, marriage being between one man and one woman and having the audacity to not be anymore upset about George Tiller’s abortion than the 60K he offed. I don’t find that prevailing opinion much of a problem. Before I sink “too far” down into the pit, let me say that Jesus Christ is perfect. I am not. You are not. Budda is laughing and Jonathan Turley are not. Our opinions are nothing more than entertainment, a diversion and sparring between people who like to argue politics, religion and ideology. As Mr. Spock would say, “Live long and Prosper.” (While we still have a little bit of a Capitalistic society left.)
mespo,
Well said and seconded.
Bob,
Your statement implies that Ralph Cramden is the missing link.
Hanna-Barbara,
You could have pushed The Jetson’s in the South but noooooooooooo . . .
Davis of the Apes –
You have all the right in the world to be as “unabashedly” pro Bible as you see fit. I do get the impression you’ve at least applied some serious thinking on the subject, which does set you apart from the “sheep.” So you get no backhanded remarks from me.
Maybe your IQ is a tad higher than most. In which case, you’d have no problem comprehending why some of equal intellect have real challenges with certain aspects of the Scriptures. For me, the largest incongruency always gets down to the same conundrum: What possible sense does it make for the Messiah to have walked the earth for 30+ years, only to ignore 99.999999% of the humans on the planet? The presence of the Son of God on earth, would indeed have to be the single greatest event in history. For Jesus to have not made his presence known to all peoples – on every continent – flies in the face of logic.
Occam’s Razor is a useful tool. The simplest answer is the wisest option. Ergo, the Scriptures were written by humans. They are beautiful, complex, emotional, varying & flawed.
One man’s opinion.
I think the actual issue here is a tongue in cheek attack on what the intellectually elite like to think of as their superior knowledge. The state a person lives in does not quantify their IQ. I love Texas. They execute people on death row in Texas. And, I bet a lot of them who agree with me on the evolution issue are against executing people in the womb, as they are innocent of any crime, and don’t deserve to be executed, er, I mean aborted. As I’m obviously not as smart as Anonymously Yours, I also think I should be able to keep my wages and give to the poor as I see fit and not how the liberal elite sees fit. I’d like to see the fence built along the border and make it more difficult for MS-13 to cross and over-run and execute law enforcement officials in Brownsville Texas. I’m so ignorant that I actually believe welfare recipients should have to pass drug tests in order to be paid my wages that I work for and have taken from me to subsidize vermin breeding as an occupation in the government subsidized housing projects. I think Joe Arpaio should be US Attorney General. Boy, that would really piss y’all off.
For most people; Who gives a crap if humans walked the earth with dinosaurs? How is this knowledge going to effect their lives?
Is the goal here to make fun of those who are not as “enlightened” as others?
What do you think would be the results of the same survey in your state?
P.S. I live in Tennessee and my kinfolks were only related by marriage.
Put me on the list that believes God created “all” around 7 to 10 thousand years ago. Men co-existed with dinosaurs? Okay. Noah had sense enough to take little dinosaurs on the ark instead of big ones. Jesus Christ “spoke” the universe into existence according to the book of Colossians in the Bible. (around verse 16, I think) I’m unabashedly 100% in favor of the Bible account. Maybe one of you intellectuals might enlighten me on anthropic constants, irreducible complexity, lack of transitory fossils, the astronomically “impossible” odds of information equivalent to 1,000 complete sets of the Encyclopedia Britainica being imbedded in EACH MOLECULE of DNA. If the universe has been around for billions of years, how much closer to the sun was it 50 billion years ago? The sun loses mass every year. “IF” we were closer, we would burn up. “IF” we were farther away, we’d freeze. I say God put us in the “EXACT” place he wanted us for the bio system to flourish.
Swartmore mom,
They have just had a lot more time for inbreeding in TN. So you probably are correct.
It does say one third not two thirds so one is able to meet a few compatible people around here. I would think this would be true throughout the southern and border states. It could even be higher in Tennessee.
mespo,
Now wait just a gosh darn minet feller. 50 years ago you say? How you calculatin them numbers?
“God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago.”
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Personally, I believe that ol’ time religion (and the Civil Rights Movement) created Texans in their present form about 50 years ago.