Stop the continent, I want off.
- Only 28% of Americans believe in evolution (and two-thirds of these believe evolution was “guided by God”). 53% are actually creationists.
- 80% of Americans expect to be called before God on Judgment Day to answer for their sins. 90% believe in heaven. 77% rate their chances of going to heaven as “excellent” or “good.”
- 83% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. (11% disbelieve. 6% don’t know.)
(All stats sourced from Sam Harris in Letters To A Christian Nation.)
I’m not sure if numbers like these destroy my faith in education as the long term solution to most problems, or if they validate the power of education and make me very worried about how that power is being used.
Ben
September 28th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
There is, of course, a very big difference in believing in heaven and believing that people different than you are going to hell.
If those stats are right — and I have my doubts, just as I have doubts about the supposed “red state/blue state” divide — then it is more than a little disturbing. Not because faith is stupid or crazy or indefensible, but because evolution is a pretty incontrovertible fact — whereas creationism is a lot of wishful thinking and bad science.
I’m on the fence on the faith issue, though. Atheism is a perfectly — and probably more — defensible position, but I don’t think that everyone who believes in god, including a Christian god, is necessarily some creationist nutjob. I haven’t shaken my own faith completely. My problem is with literal readings of the Bible, arguments for one faith as the true and only faith, misinterpretations to suit political or personal needs, and refusal to accept concrete fact because it upsets that worldview.
September 28th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
I suspect there is a sense in which the stats are correct, but as with all uses of statistics by people making a point, there’s the old drunkard/lamppost thing kicking in.
Obviously the first one is the most disturbing, because to disagree with the idea of evolution essentially means setting aside the entire framework of rational thinking and science.
Amen!