Did humans evolve? Not us!

This little blip was in the New York Times today, from a report issued in Science Magazine:

In surveys conducted in 2005, people in the United States and 32 European countries were asked whether to respond "true," "false" or "not sure" to this statement: "Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals." The United States had the second-highest percentage of adults who said the statement was false and the second-lowest percentage who said the statement was true, researchers reported in the current issue of Science.
Here's the graphic. See the US down there at the bottom?

This is what happens when you have a president who believes in intelligent design rather than evolution! (although to be sure, he hasn't evolved himself much past the orangutan stage...ha ha ) I will admit, I always found it hard to reconcile the story of Adam and Eve and X-begat-Y-begat-Z in the Torah with what I had learned about evolution and Darwin in biology class. But I'm much more inclined to go with the SCIENCE of things evolving rather than the belief that something "up there" made us.

There was a great episode of West Wing during last season's presidential campaign when Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits) was asked about intelligent design when he was speaking to parents at an elementary school. His response:
"As a Catholic who attends church every Sunday, I do believe in God, and my faith tells me that there was a designer behind it all," he says. He goes on to explain that it would be difficult to teach science without the principle of evolution, but goes on to clarify, "I don't think it's contradictory to believe in science and believe in God." Finally he explains that he feels intelligent design should not be taught in science classes because it is not a scientific theory. [emphasis mine. And thanks to the Dickinson College Student Newspaper for a recap of this speech.]

THANK YOU! G-d does not = Science. Religion and Science do not mix. But clearly I'm in the minority in the good ol' U.S. of A. Sad.

Comments

allyn fratkin said…
well thank god we got that cleared up.
12:30 AM
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