Sigh

[jamesmcgraw]

I wonder if this is how it felt when Roman civilisation gradually sank into decadence:

Half of Britons do not believe in evolution.

I would be interested to know what the 30% who believe in neither evolution, creationism nor intelligent design said. Probably "don't know". Whilst this level of confusion over something as fundamental to science as

Comments

[edwardrussia]

I must admit to not really understanding why it's so important people believe in evolution. Surely it's more important to believe, say, God didn't tell us to go to war in Iraq, that God doesn't tell people to kill each other etc. than that God didn't create the world in seven days.

[jamesmcgraw]

Well, yes. But I'd say the belief in evolution is symptomatic- it's a point at which faith and evidence-based reasoning tend to clash, and if someone comes down on one side rather than another, I'd say it's sympomatic of a somewhat irrational worldview.

For instance, I'd be surprised if anyone who believed that God told us to go to war in Iraq believed in evolution; for me, creationism is the first stop toward abandoning reason in favour of dogma.

Apologies for poverty of explanation.

[schiaparelli]

I was relieved when I read that the survey questioned 2,060 people -- not a great slice of the 59m people in the UK, thankfully!

[jamesmcgraw]

Oh, good. Any idea how it was conducted? Internet survey, knocking on doors, asking people in a seminary, asking around a university bilogy department?

[schiaparelli]

My mum and I reckon it was conducted by some research volunteers standing outside their local Morrison's on a series of weekday mornings.