A lot of work to do

[Bikewer]

I just participated in a poll from the "God, Religion, and You blog on the Orange County Register:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/evolution-301183-believe-percent.html?cb=1306108573

It's ongoing, the current results stand as:

Poll Results from the Orange County Register

"Does the Bible teach creation, evolution or both?

1: I believe God created mankind in its present form, and I reject evolution. 33 %

2: I believe in evolution and I believe the creation process to be as described in Genesis 1:27. 4 %

3: I believe that evolution is the continuing process by which God created mankind as we are today. 11 %

Option 4: I believe in evolution of species and I understand the biblical creation stories as metaphors and spiritual lessons. 17 %

5: I believe in evolution of the species and the Bible is irrelevant for my belief. 31 %

6: I am still uncertain what I believe about the Bible and evolution. 1 %

7: I have a different belief. 3 %
Total Votes: 414 "

Almost the same percentage for strict believers and non-believers, but quite a large number waffling somewhere in the middle.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

Q) Does the Bible teach creation, evolution or both?

A) I believe God created mankind in its present form...
B) I believe ... etc

NOT the same question. Not that I don't think there isn't a significant majority of twoo believers, but poorly constructed polls with giant glaring biases are a bad place to begin assessing the scope of the problem.

 

[Lowpro]

2: I believe in evolution and I believe the creation process to be as described in Genesis 1:27. 4 %

I'm surprised that the number is so high for this one considering 414 people were interviewed.

 

[Maurice Ledifficile]

I'm surprised that the number is so high for this one considering 414 people were interviewed.

Orange county FL would have shown different results!

Bonus opinion: I will be baffled and sad until I see worldwide polls showing 90%+ agree that there's nothing that comes near the explanation power of the theory of evolution. It could be a moral, or ethical matter, in that intellectual honesty would somewhat preclude the propagation of occult beliefs pertaining to our origins.

 

[Kopji]

The next largest group of voters was almost equal in size at 30 percent. They took the exact opposite position, choosing: I believe in evolution of the species, and the Bible is irrelevant for my belief.

Sounds rather hopeful.

Option 4: I believe in evolution of species and I understand the biblical creation stories as metaphors and spiritual lessons.

Option 5: I believe in evolution of the species and the Bible is irrelevant for my belief.

I don't really see any problem with answering either way on those two. When will people learn how to design a simple survey?

 

[Maurice Ledifficile]

When will people learn how to design a simple survey?

I know that the people who run independent market reasearch surveys generally have a very good understanding of various biases and will work with the client to phrase everything properly. I can't say anything similar about the people who run newspapers...

 

[Kopji]

...Almost the same percentage for strict believers and non-believers, but quite a large number waffling somewhere in the middle.

I would have taken the results differently. Results from 4 and 5 should be summed as being a single question.

I know that the people who run independent market reasearch surveys generally have a very good understanding of various biases and will work with the client to phrase everything properly. I can't say anything similar about the people who run newspapers...

I don't think it is so much a bias as it is simple propaganda. They asked a question, didn't like the results, so spun them in a way that got their message out.

 

[Maurice Ledifficile]

Fwiw

I don't think it is so much a bias as it is simple propaganda. They asked a question, didn't like the results, so spun them in a way that got their message out.

I totally agree. I don't think I have ever seen a survey on the subject which had properly separated categories. What sucks is that a newspaper is not doing independent research, so there's no reason to be accountable, especially if the results constitute good news to the readership. (At least old fashion propaganda was blatantly obvious. I don't like how it's become so sneaky.)

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I guess it depends on how you interpret the data.

Don't believe in evolution|33%
Do believe in evolution|63%

Do believe in God/Bible|48%
Don’t believe in God/Bible|48%

So 63% believe in evolution of some sort. And half could be atheists (#4 could be atheist or non-literal Christians, and #3 could be Christians or non-Christian "God is a unknown spiritual force" type people).

Of those who don't believe in God, apparently there is, at most, 3% who don't believe in evolution. So 95-100% of people who don;t reject evolution because it conflicts with their belief in God, believe in evolution.

 

[dafydd]

I take it that this Orange County is smack in the middle of the bible belt,aka known as Dumhickistan?