Living with the dinosaurs? (Austin, Victoria: school, university, vs)

[AustinSpartan]

Really, Texas? At least it's safe to say that I'm more intelligent than 60% of my neighbors.

Think Progress » Poll: Large Number Of Texans Doubt The Theory Of Evolution, Believe In Human-Dinosaur Coexistence

[tongpa-nyi]

This trend in America away from the teaching of science is contributing to our demise as a global leader. We seem to be on our way to joining Islamic nations in terms of the marriage of superstition and government policy. It's ironic that the fundamentalist Christians who are most likely to want to destroy Islam are the very people who seem to want a quasi-Taliban type of system in the US. Our Mullahs wear western business suits. Other than that, what's the diff?

[FueledByBlueBell]

Why torture yourself. I've had to put my blinders on and hit the Zoloft to cope with this crap. If I let myself think about it, we really are moving the direction tongpa-nyi is talking about. They are so proud of their ignorance too. Luckily Austin is a bit more open to information and contemplation although I'm near Lakeway but I try to pretend those types aren't there...

[JERiv]

Getting back on subject here...

The sad part about that poll is that the folks who don't believe in evolution do not do so out of disagreement with the science behind it, but out of religious belief. That is, their religion demands that they disgree with reality.

That is both sad and scary.

It's not that they can disprove evolution. It's that they ignore every fact out there that shows evolution to be the best explanation to how we got here due. And if the facts don't agree with their view, they make up their own.

And that's just messed up. How exactly, does that make Christians any different than ancient Greeks who thought lightning was caused by Zeus when he was angry? Or floods by Poseidon?

Seriously folks... I have nothing against religious belief. But willfully ignoring scientific evidence (as in, proof that's right in front of you) due to blind devotion to your faith is just not smart.

Believe in God as much as you want, but don't think everything that's on the Bible is absolute fact. Or do you really think Jonah was swallowed by a whale/fish for 3 days?

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

We don't all believe the same. All sides scream to one another, "why don't you hear me?" or "We're right, you're wrong." blah, blah, blah

Usually all sides complaining about how intolerant the other one is. Usually both claiming how "smart" they are and how "dumb" the others are."

Ugh, it's a no win situation.

If anything is "sad and scary" it's the discussion of it.



quote by tongpa-nyi: This trend in America away from the teaching of science is contributing to our demise as a global leader. end quote

Where is the scientific evidence to support this claim?

[TexasHorseLady]

I would LOVE to see the actual survey and how it was worded. Having worked with people designing such "soft science" surveys at the University of Texas in past, I've seen how very hard it is to design such a survey without bias, even with the best will in the world (which, reading the article and clicking through, I'm not sure exists here given there's a book in the offing AND there's a political bent). It's amazing how you can skew results, unintentionally (never mind intentionally), by how you choose to ask the questions or, just as important, how you choose your particular pool of respondents.

I do remember growing up a preacher's kid in East Texas in the 1950's, and knowing a lot of very religious folk. I also remember reading Darwin in the 4th grade, picking up a book in my father's library. The beliefs touted in this survey as being so widespread in Texas certainly weren't at that time, not there, at any rate.

[G Grasshopper]

THL, when you read the article sited, click on the first high lighted phrase, and it gives you more information, including how the questions were worded. Perhaps not all of what you asked for, but some. One question I have is how Texas would compare to other states. I imagine that the anti-science belief, and pride in that belief, is just as common in at least some of the other states. And it has been around for many, many years. The fear that being educated is antithetical to religious faith was there in the 1930s, when my father, born and raised in Victoria, Texas, was discouraged from pursuing higher education because his parents feared that he would lose the family faith. He went on the earn a PHD and teach college.

Personally, I consider myself to be both a person of faith and of science. I don't think that the Bible is in conflict with evolution. But I am also not a literalist, and mostly agree with JERvi. I think God gave us logical minds for a reason, and the way that was done was through evolution. And I think it is actually sad and disturbing that people can ignore the huge weight of evidence for evolution. Even worse is when we allow creationism to be included in text books in the guise of "science". I think religion should be taught in church and religion classes, and science should be taught in science classes, and the difference between the two should be taught and respected.

[Runemaster]

It's called a theory for a reason. If it could be proven by scientific means, it would be a scientific law... like the Law of Gravity. Huge gaps in the fossil record, which they've been trying (unsuccessfully) to fill in for well over a century, prevent it from being anything more than a theory. In fact, Darwin himself admitted he was probably wrong before he died, but it had been so embraced by the overall scientific community at that point, his final claims were dismissed.

The ironic thing about it is that it takes faith to believe Darwin's Theory... Faith that things which cannot be proven do indeed exist in order to prove the theory. Kinda sounds like religion... but, it's "science". LOL.

Science led us to develop computers, cars, coffee, flew us to the moon, cured various diseases and many other great things, but has failed to prove Darwin's Theory is any more real than this insane theory that humans and dinosaurs coexisted...

[AustinGuy]

Don't worry, I'm sure most people based their answer of this survey on what they learned from watching Jurassic Park vs what they learned in Sunday School.

[tongpa-nyi]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

quote by tongpa-nyi: This trend in America away from the teaching of science is contributing to our demise as a global leader. end quote

Where is the scientific evidence to support this claim?

I'm not aware of any such evidence. My comment was based on conjecture. Science education in the USA, according to test scores and surveys comparing industrialized nations, have been declining relative to other countries. An understanding of science, math, and other topics needed for advancing basic knowledge of the way the physical world works, is necessary for furthering what remains of our former leadership in the realms of medicine, physics, technology, and many other realms where a secular education contributes to the foundations for future learning and research.

It doesn't seem like a great leap of faith to assert that the teaching that "God did it" contributes absolutely nothing of value to the ability of our future leaders to use their reasoning skills for solving the problems of tomorrow. The importance of understanding evolution and other science topics is that these theories give rise to thousands of applications of knowledge that help generate medical and technological breakthroughs. Simply believing in religious dogma has no value in scientific endeavors.

No science papers need to be cited in order to justify the foregoing claims.