A Gallup poll finds that over half of Americans accept the creation myth related in the Bible.

Informal Poll for PP members:

Do you accept the creation myth related in the Bible?

Do you accept a different creation myth? If so, which one?

Do you favor scientific explanation?

The article describing the Gallup poll, from Editor and Publisher:


"Gallup: More Than Half of Americans Reject Evolution, Back Bible

By E&P Staff

Published: March 08, 2006 10:15 AM ET

NEW YORK A Gallup report released today reveals that more than half of all Americans, rejecting evolution theory and scientific evidence, agree with the statement, "God created man exactly how Bible describes it."

Another 31% says that man did evolve, but "God guided." Only 12% back evolution and say "God had no part."

Gallup summarized it this way: "Surveys repeatedly show that a substantial portion of Americans do not believe that the theory of evolution best explains where life came from." They are "not so quick to agree with the preponderance of scientific evidence."

The report was written by the director of the The Gallup Poll, Frank Newport.

Breaking down the numbers, Gallup finds that Republican backing for what it calls "God created human beings in present form" stands at 57% with Democrats at 44%.

Support for this Bible view rises steadily with age: from 43% for those 18 to 29, to 59% for those 65 and older. It declines steadily with education, dropping from 58% for those with high school degrees to a still-substantial 25% with postgraduate degrees.

Newport wraps it up: "Several characteristics correlate with belief in the biblical explanation for the origin of humans. Those with lower levels of education, those who attend church regularly, those who are 65 and older, and those who identify with the Republican Party are more likely to believe that God created humans 'as is,' than are those who do not share these characteristics."

Gallup has asked this question, in different forms, going back to 1982, but has consistently shown support at 45% or higher for the notion that "God created man in present form."

The most recent poll, last September, posed the question this way: "Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and devlopment of human beings." This produced the 53% who chose "God created man exactly how Bible describes it.""


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E&P Staff (letters@editorandpublisher.com)

Would that be the same Bible created under, and endorsed by, King James? The same King James that was openly gay?

Wouldn't that make it the Queen James version?

Here's one for you from one of my fellow Blackfeet story tellers. I was told a variation of this story by my maternal Grandfather as he wanted me to know the stories and legends of our tribe. He thought it made as much sense as what he was taught by the Catholic teachers at the mission school on the rez:

http://www.montana.edu/~wwwbcc/legend.html

It's interesting that belief in the Biblical creation myth is inversely correlated to education. In churched families, kids learn the Biblical creation myth before they enter first grade. Kids aren't exposed to science in the public school system until about 5th grade, and probably don't begin to have a grasp of evolutionary theory until well into high school. I recall reading and hearing that what a person learns first and at an early age tends to stick with him or her and influences core personal values. I guess the survey kind of corroborates that.

Best post I've seen all day Chuck E. Do you know the story of how first Woman chose death?

As long as we are at it, lets talk about the virgin birth. Many cultures before christianity had a similar beleif. The Aztecs beleived thier ******* was impregnated by a ball of feathers.

Whoops. I bet that was edited becasue of the similarity to a certain female guide's choosen name.

sardonicus.......
Don't know that story.

Blackfoot story:
Woman chooses Death


Old Man decided that something was missing in the world he had made. He thought it would be a good thing to create a woman and a child. He didn't quite know how they should look, but he took some clay and mud and for four days tried out different shapes. At first he didn't like the looks of the beings he formed. On the fourth day, however, he shaped a woman into a pleasing form, round and nice, with everything in front and in back, above and below, just right.

"This is good", Old Man said. "this is the kind of woman I like to have in my world." Then he made a little child resembling the woman. "Well," said Old Man, "this is just what I wanted, but they are not alive yet."

Old Man covered them up for four days. On the first day he looked under the cover and saw a faint trembling. On the second day the figures could raise their heads. On the third day they moved their arms and legs. "Soon they will be ready."Said Old Man. And on the fourth day he looked underneath the cover and saw his figures crawling around. " They're ready now to walk upon my world." thought Old Man. He took the cover off and told the woman and child:
"Walk upright like human beings." The woman and the child stood up. They began to walk and they were perfect.

They followed Old Man down to the river, where he gave them the power of speech. At once the woman asked: "What is that state we are in, walking, moving, eating, breathing?" "That is life," said Old Man. "Before you were just lumps of mud. Now, you live."

"When we were lumps of mud, were we alive then?" asked the woman
.
"No," said Old Man, "you were not alive."

"What do you call the state we were in then?" asked the woman.

"It is called death," answered Old Man. "When you are not alive, then you are dead."

"Will we be alive always?" asked the woman. "Will we go on living forever, or will we be dead again at sometime?"
Old Man pondered. He said: "I didn't think about that at all. Lets decide it right now. Here os a buffalo chip. If it floats, then people will die and come back to life four days later."

"No," said the woman. "This buffalo chip will dissolve in the water. I'll throw in this stone. If it floats, we'll live forever and there will be no death. If it sinks, then we'll die." The woman didn't know anything yet, she had been walking on earth for only a few hours. Sje didn't know about stones and water, so she threw the stone into the river and it sank.

"You made a choice there," said Old Man. "Now nothing can be done about it. Now people will die."

LOL, dang women screwed us in that one too. LOL

Specific gravity, stones sink in water and float in mercury, specific gravity.

I wonder, does Adam ever ponder what he started? Or perhaps it was that "black monolith" from the space odyssey.

dave- i believe that "ball of feathers" was quetzlequatle(sp?)- the feathered serpent

Quet zal co atl: principal god of the Aztecs. Symbolized by the Feather Serpent.