Poll: Most Canadians Pick Evolution Over Creationism
Tue, 2007-06-19 22:32
#1
Poll: Most Canadians Pick Evolution Over Creationism
Tue, 2007-06-19 22:32
#2
quote:
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Canada believe the theory of evolution is correct, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 59 per cent of respondents think human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years.Conversely, 22 per cent of respondents believe God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years, while 19 per cent are not sure.
Charles Darwin’s "The Origin of Species" was first published in 1859. The book details the British naturalist’s theory that all organisms gradually evolve through the process of natural selection. Darwin’s views were antagonistic to creationism, the belief that a more powerful being or a deity created life.
Earlier this month, the Big Valley Creation Science Museum opened in Alberta. One of the museum’s displays suggests that dinosaurs and human beings co-existed on earth. 42 per cent of respondents agree with this assertion, while 37 per cent disagree.
In November 2000, Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day—who currently serves as Canada’s public safety minister—said there is "scientific proof" that early man co-existed with dinosaurs. Day rejected criticism of his views, declaring, "If you’re looking for dinosaur politics, you need to look at the Liberals."
Read it [url=http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/161...
Tue, 2007-06-19 22:56
#3
Province by province breakdown available [url=http://www.angus-reid.com/admin/collateral/pdfs/polls/ARS_Evo_Cre.pdf]he...
quote:
Respondents in Quebec are especially disbelieving of creationism. Just 9 per cent agree with the theory behind creationism, while seven-in-ten Quebeckers (71%) agree that the process of evolution is how humans developed. However, the province wound up being as split as the rest of the nation over whether dinosaurs and humans co-existed.But Albertans were not more likely to believe in creationism than the rest of the country. Their views came very close to the national numbers, with 58 per cent registering belief in evolution as the process driving human development, and 42 per cent agreeing that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time.
[ 19 June 2007: Message edited by: Snuckles ]
Tue, 2007-06-19 23:28
#4
I’m surprised people still think God created anything. The Universe is 14 billion years old. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Like all other planets, Earth was created by the collision and impact of two or more meteorites. If God created earth and man 10,000 or so years ago how is it possible that the rock in the Canadian Shield is 1.87 million years old?
[img]http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7227/sudbury10fsc0.jpg[/img]
![http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7227/sudbury10fsc0.jpg[/img]](http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7227/sudbury10fsc0.jpg[/img]){kind=link}
I don’t know anything about religion so maybe someone can answer these questions for me.
If God is the father of Jesus, how can Jesus be God if they are two different people?
Is Christ, Jesus’ last name? i.e., Jesus Christ?
[ 19 June 2007: Message edited by: Sudbury ]
Wed, 2007-06-20 06:30
#5
I pick both.
Wed, 2007-06-20 07:05
#6
quote:
Originally posted by Sudbury:
[b]I’m surprised people still think God created anything. The Universe is 14 billion years old. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Like all other planets, Earth was created by the collision and impact of two or more meteorites. If God created earth and man 10,000 or so years ago how is it possible that the rock in the Canadian Shield is 1.87 million years old?[img]http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7227/sudbury10fsc0.jpg[/img]
I don’t know anything about religion so maybe someone can answer these questions for me.
If God is the father of Jesus, how can Jesus be God if they are two different people?
Is Christ, Jesus’ last name? i.e., Jesus Christ?
[ 19 June 2007: Message edited by: Sudbury ][/b]
Uniformitarianism is wishful thinking!
All the geology on Earth could be explained by the catastrophe that was the great flood.
Here's a challenge for you: Find some natural event in history that can't be explained by miracles. The fact you won't be able to is proof that all history is the product of miracles.
[img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]
Wed, 2007-06-20 07:45
#7
remind
quote:
Originally posted by 500_Apples:
[b]All the geology on Earth could be explained by the catastrophe that was the great flood.[/b]
Absolute nonsense.
quote:
[b]Here's a challenge for you: Find some natural event in history that can't be explained by miracles. The fact you won't be able to is proof that all history is the product of miracles. [/b]
Oh please!
---------------------------
Sudbury, regarding Jesus, there is no proof that this person existed. Christ is a verb meaning to one who is "annoited with knowledge", or a state of being in knowledge. Something fundamentalists are in short supply of.
Wed, 2007-06-20 08:04
#8
Well said, Remind.
I wish the media and pollsters would just drop the whole evolution vs creationism question. They only perpetuate the notion that they are somehow comparable theories. Darwinian evolution is a theory, certain aspects of which are yet to be resolved. It is cogent, elegant and falsifiable. Young Earth Creationism (and its cousin ID) is a claim, not a theory. Not only is it unsupported by any evidence, it is demonstrably wrong.
Wed, 2007-06-20 08:19
#9
Remind, You're right, But you're also wrong.
It's ridiculous for educated rational science thinking beings to use the old 'miracle' card, but that's what it comes down to. There are ALOT (apparently 1 out of every 5 people.... *shudder*) of people who apparently believe in the magic wand theory that god just set up everything as it is to keep those 'god doubting scienticians' busy while they prepare for the end times.
Anyway, I will say, you are wrong on the 'there's no proof that jesus didn't exist' statement. There are some coroborating documents that point out that there was a man named Jesus who was executed by the romans around the right time for causing some public disturbances.
Anyway, I do agree with you that the biblical 'story' of jesus cannot be proven.
Wed, 2007-06-20 11:11
#10
quote:
Originally posted by remind:
[b]Oh please!
---------------------------Sudbury, regarding Jesus, there is no proof that this person existed. Christ is a verb meaning to one who is "annoited with knowledge", or a state of being in knowledge. Something fundamentalists are in short supply of.[/b]
In case it was not as self-evident as I assumed it was, I was being sarcastic. Hence my winky smiley.
Wed, 2007-06-20 12:50
#11
Yeah, but 42% believe people and dinosaurs coexisted.
It's not a very interesting or informative poll. What is more important is whether that 59% is an increase or decrease from ten years ago.
I betcha it's a decrease.
Wed, 2007-06-20 17:28
#12
quote:
Yeah, but 42% believe people and dinosaurs coexisted
Sure they did! The proof is all around us as obvious dinosaurs walk among us today!!! [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img] [img]eek.gif" border="0[/img] [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img] [img]tongue.gif" border="0[/img] [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img] [img]cool.gif" border="0[/img] [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img]
[ 20 June 2007: Message edited by: Steppenwolf Allende ]
Wed, 2007-06-20 17:34
#13
TemporalHominid
quote:
Originally posted by Tommy_Paine:
[b]Yeah, but 42% believe people and dinosaurs coexisted.[/b]
actually there is growing evidence that dinosaurs and homo-sapien sapien are contemporaries.
[url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-06-13-gigantic-bir... hunters unveiled a previously unknown gigantic, chicken-like dinosaur that may change evolutionary theory on prehistoric animals.
[ 20 June 2007: Message edited by: TemporalHominid ]
Wed, 2007-06-20 18:59
#14
Frustrated Mess
quote:
But if you met Gigantoraptor erlianensis in a Mongolian forest 70 million years ago, best to have given it a wide berth.
70 million years ago, huh? That fits in nicely with six short days 10,000 years ago. But I want to know who God's union was. One task a day that amounted to "let there be ...". Which raises the question, how did God know what "light" is and why did he think we would need it?
Wed, 2007-06-20 21:13
#15
quote:
But I want to know who God's union was.
The InterUniversal Association of Deities, Demi-gods, Great Spirits and Supreme Beings, Apprentices and Helpers of All Dimentions and Plains of Existence. [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img] [img]cool.gif" border="0[/img] [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img]
Thu, 2007-06-21 05:25
#16
quote:
Originally posted by TemporalHominid:
[b]actually there is growing evidence that dinosaurs and homo-sapien sapien are contemporaries.
[url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-06-13-gigantic-bir... hunters unveiled a previously unknown gigantic, chicken-like dinosaur that may change evolutionary theory on prehistoric animals.
[ 20 June 2007: Message edited by: TemporalHominid ][/b]
The article you link to is interesting but says nothing about coexistence of dinosaurs and homo-sapiens. The oviraptors mentioned in the article lived around 70 million years ago, the genus homo only emerged 1.5 to 2.5 million years ago.
Thu, 2007-06-21 05:29
#17
Although...
It is interesting to ponder what society would be like today if the great, great, ~~~ great ancestor of Harlan Sanders had been eaten by a giant chicken. [img]confused.gif" border="0[/img]
Fri, 2007-06-22 02:59
#18
quote:
What does that Darwin know anyway?REBECCA DUBE
June 19, 2007If your picture of creationists is limited to barefoot hillbillies and Republican U.S. presidential candidates, it's time for your thinking to evolve.
New polls show that a larger share of Americans - 53 per cent - believe in evolution than do Ontario residents, only 51 per cent of whom believe that "human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years."
Over all, 59 per cent of Canadians said they believe in evolution, according to the Angus Reid poll of 1,088 adults conducted June 12-13. Twenty-two per cent agreed that "God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years," and 19 per cent told pollsters they weren't sure.
Even those who say they believe in evolution may be confused about what that means exactly. The poll found 42 per cent of Canadians agree that dinosaurs and humans co-existed on earth - but evolutionary theory says non-avian dinosaurs died out about 60 million years before humans evolved in their current form.
"Wow. Oh boy," responded Pam Willoughby, an anthropology professor at the University of Alberta. "We're obviously not getting our message across."
While the evidence for evolution, such as fossil records dating back millions of years, is clear and persuasive, Prof. Willoughby acknowledged that creationism has one big advantage over evolutionary theory: certainty. Even though evolution is a strong theory with overwhelming scientific support, it doesn't offer the 100-per-cent certainty of religious doctrine.
"Religion gives people a way of explaining the world," Prof. Willoughby said. "We're not in the belief business, we're in the science business."
She was cheered to learn that roughly one in five Canadians aren't sure whether they believe in evolution or creationism.
"We might be able to convince a few more," she said.
Don't count on it, said Ian Juby, a Chalk River, Ont.-based consultant to creationist museums. He says evolution opponents are gaining steam.
"Part of it is the controversy, and people getting fed up with having their views stifled," Mr. Juby said. "There are lines being drawn in the sand."
Read it [url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070619.LCREATION19/TP...
Fri, 2007-06-22 10:29
#19
quote:
Even though evolution is a strong theory with overwhelming scientific support, it doesn't offer the 100-per-cent certainty of religious doctrine.
Certainty without evidence or proof is wishful thinking.
quote:
"Religion gives people a way of explaining the world," Prof. Willoughby said. "We're not in the belief business, we're in the science business."
Certainty based on folklore and symbolism has no practical value.
quote:
"Part of it is the controversy, and people getting fed up with having their views stifled," Mr. Juby said. "There are lines being drawn in the sand."
Certainty based bald-faced lies and made-up interpretations is fraud.
Sat, 2007-06-23 07:38
#20
remind
quote:
Originally posted by quelar:
[b]Remind, You're right, But you're also wrong....Anyway, I will say, you are wrong on the 'there's no proof that jesus didn't exist' statement. There are some coroborating documents that point out that there was a man named Jesus who was executed by the romans around the right time for causing some public disturbances.
Anyway, I do agree with you that the biblical 'story' of jesus cannot be proven.[/b]
That persons name was Yesuah Ben Joseph, he was born normally, he had siblings and was married.
Now, for those who say evolution does not exist, how then have we come to where we are today in body composition, when we know what early hominids were like structurally?
Sat, 2007-06-23 18:41
#21
[i]Does[/i] anybody have any idea what the comparable figures would have been for ten or twenty years ago? I agree that's what you can get from polls -- and I'm afraid I suspect the trend is to the worse, not better. I don't recall evolution being "controversial", at least not more than round-earthism, in the 70s...
(Mind you I grew up, happily, in Quebec, where evolution seems clearer. Creditiste to Adequiste, quoi.)