Creationism and Ignorance

[vulcanlogician]

In a recent post, I said that contemporary Christian culture has an ignorance problem. Roughly a third of the people in this country outright deny evolution, claiming that humans were created in the form they hold today. A third is a lot--too damn many if you ask me.

I've gotten into debates on other forums with fundies who claim that scientists are misinterpreting the data. All this is fine and good, but even assuming that scientists are misinterpreting the data, the reason that many evangelicals accept creationism is not because they have looked at the data and concluded a misinterpretation on the part of scientists. They are simply malinformed. See the chart below:


http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/201...arwin-day/

It seems peculiar to me that roughly a third of the population accepts the doctrine of creationism and roughly a third imagines that there is some sort of disagreement between scientists concerning evolution. Methinks there is some overlap between those who are misinformed about the position of scientists and those who accept creationism.

I felt like I should post this thread not only to justify my earlier statements about the ignorance problem but also to highlight the problem itself... hopefully prompting discussion. Even if creationism is true, this is inexcusable and it represents anti-intellectualism and rejection of the facts at its finest.

But where does the problem lie? Is it with our education system? Religious indoctrination? Both? Neither? Regardless of where one stands on the issue, I think we can all admit that a third of the population being malinformed is problematic.

Supplementary information:

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