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
Byron–
“I figure I may as well begin at the beginning.”
You mean 6,000 years ago?
Sorry…I don’t know how to insert a smiley face.
gYGES:
I just doubt, I don’t let facts interfere. 🙂
I am reading On the Origin of Species currently. I figure I may as well begin at the beginning.
Duh,
It matters because evolutionary theory is central to just about every aspect of biological science today. It matters because it explains why some antibiotics suddenly stopped being so effective against some bacteria. It matters because it helps develop crops that are more reliable. It matters because it helps to understand human behavior. It matters because reality matters. You want to believe in a God, fine. If you believe in a God that doesn’t line up with what happens in the universe, you had better be prepared for those who study what happens and use that knowledge to make your life better, to tell you that you’re wrong.
David,
Having a sincere belief in no way shields you from having to listen to that belief being criticized so you should probably quit playing the victim on that account. Your solution is to either figure out a way to reconcile your beliefs with observable reality or quit complaining when people point out that the two don’t match.
Byron,
For as long as you’ve had your serious doubts about evolutionary theory, you sure haven’t bothered to check out what’s actually said about them. Go to your local library, check out some books.
http://nationalacademies.org/evolution/Reports.html
Speaking of vomit and puke and weddings–maybe I should put my entrepreneurial talents to work and design a line of “Barf Bags for Bridal Parties.” Just a thought.
Swartmore mom,
Good luck with your daughter and school.
Elaine M.,
Puke Free Weddings are good. Good luck on that though. Flavius appears to be a good man or at least that is how history describes him.
Thank you Buddah and here’s wishing you a belated Happy Birthday!
Elaine,
Congratulations! I hope your daughter has a vomit-free and joyous wedding that presages a long happy marriage.
Smom,
Congratulations to you on your daughter’s acceptances. May her law school experience be as digestively stable experience as well.
Elaine M I know it is. Both of my kids looked out there. They did not want to stay in Texas. I have a cousin that teaches at BU and my mother’s brother and his family lived in Exeter. The price of UT Law looks good now.
Swarthmore mom–
Thanks. I keep seeing $$$$$$$$$$$ floating around in my head–floating around and out the window…just like the days when my daughter was in college.
Congratulations to your daughter on her acceptances to law schools.
BTW, the Boston area is a great place for college students!
Professor Turley,
I think I may be able to top that story. During our wedding reception, my husband’s best man got inebriated, left the ballroom, and sat on a bench in the hallway across from the entrance to the restaurant puking on his tuxedo.
That’s one of my fondest–and most romantic–memories of my wedding day.
Congratulation on you daughter’s wedding, Elaine. I am a long ways from a wedding for my son or my daughter. My daughter has not decided on a law school. She has two acceptances in your area but I don’t think she is going to either of them.
I need Nal looking over my shoulder when I type!
FYI: We librians have been in a blue funk ever since they threw away our wooden card catalogs, doncha know!
Correction–We librarians have been in a blue funk ever since they threw away our wooden card catalogs, doncha know!
I somehow missed this thread yesterday. I’ve been busy with plans for my daughter’s wedding.
So…..some of you have bin tossin’ me name about in this discussion? Well, I never let on to what historic males I’m familiar with–Gluteus Maximus included. I can tell you this though–it’s unlikely you’d ever have found me in the company of a guy named Flavius.
FYI: We librians have been in a blue funk ever since they threw away our wooden card catalogs, doncha know!
Elaine M:
Congrats on your daughter’s wedding! I hope the planning goes well. Leslie and I eloped on New Year’s Eve )but then had a full wedding later for the family). We were met outside of the city office on New Year’s Eve by a guy on all fours throwing up in the gutter. Now that is romantic. That should give you a lot of room for success in comparison!
AY,
Taught the class eh? Hmmmm you must be an expert then 😀
Byron, The migration out of Africa began 50K to 60K years ago; Eve, the mitochondrial mother of us all lived 150K yrs ago; the fossil evidence for the archetypal Homo Sapiens goes back 200k yrs ago and was a direct decedent of Homo heidelbergensis (as was Neanderthal man) which goes back 350K years.
You have to take the long view unless anything but the pale European model of early humanity is repugnant to your sensibilities.
If you get the chance to rent or watch “the Story of India” it has a couple of interesting insights regarding language and genetics. We came out of Africa with language and rituals. Those things did not develop magically as we crossed the threshold between Africa and the Mideast/Europe.
Personally, no whim of a supernatural being can compare, for me, to the grandeur, drama, ceaseless change and struggle of evolution to fill every niche available to be filled with life. It is at once the most simple and reasonable of processes as well as the most miraculous and awe-inspiring.
IMO attributing this magnificent legacy of billions of years of natural selection to a few thousand years of attention by a ghod or ghods makes it all rather small and tawdry. It fosters a disregard for life and the planet that is misplaced in the face of the unique and precious thing that we have and inhabit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/bob-dylan-performs-white-house
Ms. Eh.,
You see I taught a male self defense class called Evasive Answers to Women’s Questions. Hmm, I guess some of the other sexes took offense at this.
AY,
That’s not just Librarians…but women in general!
I bet they do, ah so well. One thing about a Librarians, they will sift through the B.S. to get to the source…..