[NetBehaviour] [stuff-it] FW: Only 33 per cent of Americans believe in evolution
Simon Biggs
s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
Sat Jul 11 17:37:49 CEST 2009
There is no reason to respect faith. Faith is the human <quality> evoked
when people refuse to recognise they might be wrong. Faith is a cover for
ignorance and an apologia for lacking respect for others. I agree with
Richard Dawkins on this and see no reason why faith should be tolerated,
much less respected.
I have no respect for the Pope¹s beliefs, although I respect him as a human
being, no matter what he does (and some Popes have done terrible things in
the name of faith). All people, even the most difficult, should have our
basic respect. However, I do not see why people¹s beliefs should be
respected, especially if that means other¹s have to censor their behaviour.
Think of what happened to Salman Rushdie when he critiqued a religious and
nationalist delusion and those that peddle it. In the name of respect he had
a fatwah placed upon him and has had to live with that ever since.
Historically, far worse has been done to those who risked the wrath of the
faithful.
I do not see how, in a society that aspires to recognise that knowledge can
only be attained through the free and robust critique of what we already
know, we can respect faith. Faith is the very opposite of that. Faith is
ignorance. Faith is deathcamps, genocide, racism and exclusivist concepts of
identity.
Regards
Simon
Simon Biggs
Research Professor
edinburgh college of art
s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
www.eca.ac.uk
www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
simon at littlepig.org.uk
www.littlepig.org.uk
AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
From: Dawn Hayes <realrainmaker at gmail.com>
Reply-To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
<netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:49:55 -0400
To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
<netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] [stuff-it] FW: Only 33 per cent of Americans
believe in evolution (fwd)
I try to be respectful of faith, but it does not surprise me when
others do not offer the same courtesy or consideration.
There are plenty of non-Christians that do not believe in the theory
of evolution. There are scientists that question evolution. Some are
Christian and others are not. Plenty of contributors to science and
other fields of "reason" that we all appreciate came from folks who
believed in God as Christians. Be careful not to turn this into a
ridicule of faith. It may require you to do less "politically correct"
things, like ridicule, say, Islam. God forbid (and I do capitalize my
spelling of God).
Truth is not relative, but we live in a time where relativism
increasingly colors our opinion of what we perceive as true. Perhaps
that is the real problem.
Cheers,
Dawn
On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 12:16 AM, Montserrat Bru
Manobens<zumzumgallery at gmail.com> wrote:
> Don´t know what The Province means by Americans. Does it include Canadians,
> Mexicans and the rest of the Americas, or its just U.S.A?
> Lets hope that the survey referred is more "scientific" than the article.
> Yes, its a matter of hope & faith that the results are accurate.
> Well, lets say it refers to the U.S.A and this is what wikipedia says about
> the believes of their people
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States#Religion
> According to a 2007 survey, 78.4% of adults identified themselves as
> Christian,[141] down from 86.4% in 1990.[142] Protestant denominations
> accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was the largest
> individual denomination. The study categorizes white evangelicals, 26.3% of
> the population, as the country's largest religious cohort;[141] another
> study estimates evangelicals of all races at 3035%.[143] The total
> reporting non-Christian religions in 2007 was 4.7%, up from 3.3% in
> 1990.[142] The leading non-Christian faiths were Judaism (1.7%), Buddhism
> (0.7%), Islam (0.6%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism
> (0.3%).[141] From 8.2% in 1990,[142] 16.1% in 2007 described themselves as
> agnostic, atheist, or simply having no religion.[141]
>
> Since 78,4% seem to be Christian, and knowing the bible´s approach on
> science: Clever Adam took from the tree of science, could discern between
> good and evil and became too inquisitive, independent... and mortal! Nice
> plot created by them clever god mongers: Wanna eternal life? Take from our
> tree of life, but u must not question or even reason or doubt, because u´re
> a natural born sinner. Just believe what we say, make regular contributions
> to the church, preferably in cash and if u´re afraid of dying, rest assured
> u´ll go to heaven.
>
> That´s hard core successful marketing and yes, people dig on heaven and are
> afraid of dying and they´re afraid of thinking and living too!!!
>
> But anyways, if 33% of U.S.A population believes in evolution, the results
> are not so gloomy, seeing that in 2007, only 16.1% described themselves as
> ungodly.
> It shows that some of those 78,4% have a further, lesser gullible
> perspective on the subject. That´s not much, but it´s something
>
> Best
>
> Montse
>
> On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 2:40 AM, Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> god (?) help us all.
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:53:28 -0400
>> From: Michael Gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>
>> Reply-To: stuff-it at vancouvercommunity.net
>> To: stuff-it at vancouvercommunity.net, Ottawadissenters at yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: [stuff-it] FW: Only 33 per cent of Americans believe in evolution
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Sid Shniad [mailto:shniad at sfu.ca]
>> Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 2:01 PM
>> Subject: Only 33 per cent of Americans believe in evolution
>>
>>
>> http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Science+beliefs+faltering/1776905/stor
>> y.html
>>
>>
>>
>> The Province July 10, 2009
>>
>>
>>
>> Science beliefs faltering
>>
>>
>>
>> Only 33 per cent of Americans believe in evolution
>>
>>
>>
>> Americans still value the nation's scientific achievements, but unlike
>> most
>> scientists, they often pick and choose which scientific findings they
>> agree
>> with, especially in the areas of climate change and evolution, according
>> to
>> a survey released yesterday.
>>
>>
>>
>> The survey found nine in 10 scientists accept the idea of evolution by
>> natural selection, but just a third of the public does. And while 84 per
>> cent of scientists say the Earth is getting warmer because of human
>> activity, less than half of the public agrees with that.
>>
>>
>>
>> "The public and the scientists have very different views on many different
>> issues, including the science of evolution and climate change," said Scott
>> Keeter of the Pew Research Center. The centre conducted the wide-ranging
>> telephone survey in collaboration with the American Association for the
>> Advancement of Science.
>>
>>
>>
>> The research included responses from 2,533 scientists in the AAAS, and
>> 2,001
>> public respondents.
>>
>>
>>
>> It found most Americans value the nation's scientific achievements, but
>> not
>> as much as they did a decade ago.
>>
>>
>>
>> Although 27 per cent of Americans said scientific advances are the
>> nation's
>> greatest achievement, that was down from 47 per cent in the group's May
>> 1999
>> survey.
>>
>>
>>
>> The administration of Barack Obama has promised that science will lead
>> health-care and climate-change policy, and has pledged to seek a cure for
>> cancer, now the No. 2 killer of Americans.
>>
>>
>>
>> According to the survey, most scientists and the public agree it is
>> appropriate for scientists to take part in political debate over issues
>> such
>> as stem-cell research.
>>
>>
>>
>> And even Americans who disagree with scientific conclusions think highly
>> of
>> scientists. More than two-thirds of those who say science conflicts with
>> their religious beliefs still say scientists contribute significantly to
>> society.
>>
>> !DSPAM:2676,4a5784bf25632001016420!
>>
>> ------=_Part_39296_44589596.1247248851811
>> Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
>> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>>
>> <html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0;
>> }</style></head><body><div
>> style='font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; color: #000000'><div><font
>> size="2" face="Arial"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style=""><a
>>
>> href="http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Science+beliefs+faltering/177690
>> 5/story.html"
>>
>> target="_blank">http://www.theprovince.com/technology/Science+beliefs+falter
>> ing/1776905/story.html</a></span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">The Province<span
>>
>> style=""> &
>> nbsp;
>> </span><span
>>
>> style=""> &
>>
>> nbsp;  
>>
>> ; &nb
>>
>> sp; &
>> nbsp;</span><span
>>
>> style=""> &
>>
>> nbsp;  
>>
>> ; &nb
>> sp;
>>
>> </sp
>> an>July
>> 10, 2009</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Science
>> beliefs faltering</span></b></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size:
>> 12pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Only 33 per cent of
>> Americans
>> believe in evolution</span></b></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">Americans still
>> value the nation's scientific achievements, but unlike most scientists,
>> they
>>
>> often pick and choose which scientific findings they agree with,
>> especially
>> in
>> the areas of climate change and evolution, according to a survey released
>> yesterday.</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">The survey found
>> nine in 10 scientists accept the idea of evolution by natural selection,
>> but
>>
>> just a third of the public does. And while 84 per cent of scientists say
>> the
>>
>> Earth is getting warmer because of human activity, less than half of the
>> public
>> agrees with that.</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">"The public and the
>> scientists have very different views on many different issues, including
>> the
>>
>> science of evolution and climate change," said Scott Keeter of the
>> Pew
>> Research Center. The centre conducted the
>> wide-ranging telephone survey in collaboration with the American
>> Association
>> for
>> the Advancement of Science.</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">The research
>> included responses from 2,533 scientists in the AAAS, and 2,001 public
>> respondents.</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">It found most
>> Americans value the nation's scientific achievements, but not as much as
>> they
>> did a decade ago.</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">Although 27 per
>> cent of Americans said scientific advances are the nation's greatest
>> achievement, that was down from 47 per cent in the group's May 1999
>> survey.</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">The administration
>> of Barack Obama has promised that science will lead health-care and
>> climate-change policy, and has pledged to seek a cure for cancer, now the
>> No. 2
>> killer of Americans.</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">According to the
>> survey, most scientists and the public agree it is appropriate for
>> scientists to
>> take part in political debate over issues such as stem-cell
>> research.</span></p>
>> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span
>> style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm
>> 0pt;"><span style="">And even Americans
>> who disagree with scientific conclusions think highly of scientists. More
>> than
>> two-thirds of those who say science conflicts with their religious beliefs
>> still
>> say scientists contribute significantly to
>> society.</span></p></font></div></div>
>> !DSPAM:2676,4a5784bf25632001016420!
>>
>> </body></html>
>>
>>
>> ------=_Part_39296_44589596.1247248851811--
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NetBehaviour mailing list
>> NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
>
>
>
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--
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." -John 3:16
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but we are
spiritual beings having a human experience."--Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin
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