philly

Above is a chart printed in today's edition of Science. The article within the magazine is behind a paywall, but this article from National Geographic News has a good summary. The chart is part of a study looking at how people from various countries feel about the theory of evolution. Adults [and judging by this study, I use the term here in America very loosely] were asked to respond to the following statement: "Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals."

In the U.S., only 14 percent of adults thought that evolution was "definitely true," while about a third firmly rejected the idea.

In European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, and France, more than 80 percent of adults surveyed said they accepted the concept of evolution.

The proportion of western European adults who believed the theory "absolutely false" ranged from 7 percent in Great Britain to 15 percent in the Netherlands.

Fuck me. Fourteen percent?

And on top of that, this nugget of gold:

The investigation also showed that the percentage of U.S. adults who are uncertain about evolution has risen from 7 percent to 21 percent in the past 20 years.

Why that coincides with the rise of the neo-Con[vict] right wing of the Republican party here in the U.S. of A. What a coincidence. And the people behind the study tested whether or not one's political views here in America influenced one's view on Darwinism. In short, YES.

The team found that individuals with anti-abortion, pro-life views associated with the conservative wing of the Republican Party were significantly more likely to reject evolution than people with pro-choice views.

The team adds that in Europe having pro-life or right-wing political views had little correlation with a person's attitude toward evolution.

The researchers say this reflects the politicization of the evolution issue in the U.S. "in a manner never seen in Europe or Japan."

"In the second half of the 20th century, the conservative wing of the Republican Party has adopted creationism as part of a platform designed to consolidate their support in Southern and Midwestern states," the study authors write.

Miller says that when Ronald Reagan was running for President of the U.S., for example, he gave speeches in these states where he would slip in the sentence, "I have no chimpanzees in my family," poking fun at the idea that apes could be the ancestors of humans.

When such a view comes from the U.S. President or other prominent political figures, Miller says, it "lends a degree of legitimacy to the dispute."

The National Geographic News article gives a wonderful summary, but this may be one to go to the newsstand and pickup for the full study.

We've got a president that looks like a chimp and acts like a parrot. Don't these people have eyes? I know they have ears because they're hearing all this bullshit and soaking it up like a sponge.

And one last thing for clarification – the chart says that ~40% of adults in the U.S. believe in evolution while the article I quoted from noted the 14% "definitely true" statement – the chart takes into account the "definitely true" and "probably true" to come to that number and the "probably false" and "definitely false" for the other side.

Chart: Jon Miller, et al./Science

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