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October 20, 2005

Breaking: Most Americans Slept Through Science Class

A new survey finds that many Americans are superstitious, ignorant, or a terrible combination of the two:

In the poll, 53 percent of adults say "God created human beings in their present form exactly the way the Bible describes it." Another 31 percent believe humans "evolved over millions of years from other forms of life and God guided" the process. Twelve percent say humans "have evolved over millions of years from other forms of life, but God has no part."

I'm actually surprised by the 12% that believe in naturalistic evolution. I expected it to be lower, so maybe there's hope for us yet. Maybe.

The ID-ass-kissing article continues:

"Nobody starts out as a Darwinian evolutionist," said William Dembski, professor of science and theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and the author of "The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design."

"You start out with a wonder of creation, thinking that there's something beyond it. And then it has to be explained to you why there really is no wonder behind it."

"Nobody starts out as an Einsteinian physicist," said William Dembski, professor of nonsense and stupidity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Creationists and ID folks, tell me, honestly: do such meaningless soundbites actually seem convincing to you? Is your thinking that shallow?

Reflecting the argument Paul makes in Romans 1, Dembski said the "beauty" and the "extravagance" of creation -- the "beautiful sunsets, flowers and butterflies" -- points to the existence of a creator.

"Unless you're really indoctrinated into an atheistic mindset, I think [the beauty of creation] is going to keep tugging at our hearts and minds," he said.

I wonder what the existence of famine and pestilence points to? Or, say, microencephaly... flesh-eating disease... teratocarcinoma... fetus in fetu... all the brutal horrors of the universe that indicate that, if there is a designer, he's one mean dude, more deserving of the middle finger than mindless praise.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called the Gallup poll findings "incredible" and said they should be "encouraging" to conservative Christians.

"Virtually every American adult has had high school biology, and in high school biology they were taught as a fact that human beings evolved from simple life forms according to the Darwinian theory of evolution," Land said on his radio program, “Richard Land Live!” Oct. 15. "This [poll] must make high school biology teachers really depressed."

Yes, in much the same way that reading the typical internet message board makes high school English teachers depressed.

Americans, Dembski said, often try to take a middle road by believing God guided evolution. Nevertheless, he said, the poll numbers are promising for Intelligent Design proponents who are making their case in the public square.

Indeed, rather than in the scientific community, where they know their idiocy doesn't stand a chance.

Being popular in the public square doesn't mean ID is a valid concept any more than Family Matters and Full House being on the air for so long means they were good television shows.