4 in 10 Americans Believe God Created Earth 10,000 Years Ago

Scientists of the Christian Faith -- Alphabetical Index

www.tektonics.org...

www.tektonics.org...

This collection presents over 1600 mini-biographies of scientists of the Christian faith-including scholars, mathematicians, and theologians who advanced the cause of science. These Christians pioneered disciplines ranging from oceanography to astronomy, geology to biology, rocket science to genetics. The mini-biographies are presented in alphabetical order. Beginning March 2007 for ease of reference we are dividing each letter of the alphabet into its ownb separate page. Links to online websites are provided for those wishing to research a particular scientist. Researchers are invited to order the biographies by clicking on the hypertext, as well as check out the biographies published by Gale.

The Language of God: Intellectual Reflections of a Christian Geneticist"
February 4, 2008, at The University of California, Berkeley

Presentation by Dr. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project and director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Dr. Collins presents a case for harmony between faith in science and faith in God. He also shares about his personal intellectual and spiritual journey from agnosticism, to atheism, and to Christianity.

Followed by an interview conducted by Jasper Rine, Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development at UC Berkeley.

youtu.be...

Francis Sellers Collins is an American physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. He is director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

originally posted by: SonoftheSun

originally posted by: CloudsTasteMetallic
I blame the Internets.

We now live in the age of (excessive) information, however: this, like many things, is a double-edged sword. We as a society have traded valuable, in-depth knowledge for (mostly) worthless information.

You could be right. Miley's antics and Kim K's wedding being more important that googling to see if the Earth revolves around the Sun or if it's the opposite.

When it comes to religions though, I mean...if they tell you that the Earth and Mankind just snapped into existence 10,000 years ago, or how about muslims? where they believe that 72 virgins are waiting for you when you die...I mean...

No one is questioning and just take it as truth? I don't get it. There IS tons of information out there for someone who looks for it. Intellectual laziness perhaps?

Most definitely laziness. Speaking from first hand experience of attending a small-town Pentecostal church back in my high school days, "faith" and "questioning" are mutually exclusive. It seemed more like a social club/gossip mill. Well, when I eventually started asking questions without easy, comfortable, cut and dry answers... Well, you should have seen the look on their faces!

It was like some had never even thought about all the inconsistencies, and frankly, didn't want to. Churches rely on blind faith. I never fully bought the ideology they were selling, eventually saw their hypocritical ways and "departed from the flock."

Throughout history the priest has always been a pillar of authority in any community. Say something with enough charisma and "holy spirit" you'd be amazed what people will believe. *cough, Jim Jones, cough*

I've no problem with organized religion. If it helps folks out, fine. However, the problems start when the metaphorical of any "holy book" is taken as literal interpretation. One would also do well to remember more wars have been fought "in the name of God" than any other reason throughout the ages.

Also, the slightest of changes in the phrasing of a question can skew a poll dramatically either way. And they dang sure didn't ask me!

a reply to: Stormdancer777

According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of Nobel prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.[1]
List from 313 A D, through today

What does any of that have to do with the number of people who believe that the Bible is the inerrant, breathed word of God?

Are you trying to tell us that all those people listed in your "wall of text" believed in a women made of a rib being deceived by talking snake, or, 2 of every animal surviving a global flood due to one man's boat? How about a man living in the belly of a fish for 3 days, men coming to life from falling on bones.......etc., etc., etc.,

Why does critical thinking have to be a threat to Christianity?

originally posted by: Stormdancer777
a reply to: Antigod

I'd like to comment that there's a very strong relationship between low IQ and fundamentalist religious views. Those people who take the bible literally probably have a double digit IQ.

According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of Nobel prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.[1]
List from 313 A D, through today



List of Christian thinkers in science
en.wikipedia.org...
just a small section of the list,

Physics and Astronomy

Charles Hard Townes (born 1915): In 1964 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics and in 1966 he wrote The Convergence of Science and Religion.[244]
Antony Hewish (born 1924): Antony Hewish is a British Radio Astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with Martin Ryle) for his work on the development of radio aperture synthesis and its role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1969. Hewish is a Christian.[245] Hewish also wrote in his introduction to John Polkinghorne's 2009 Questions of Truth, "The ghostly presence of virtual particles defies rational common sense and is non-intuitive for those unacquainted with physics. Religious belief in God, and Christian belief ... may seem strange to common-sense thinking. But when the most elementary physical things behave in this way, we should be prepared to accept that the deepest aspects of our existence go beyond our common-sense understanding."[246]
Walter Thirring (born 1927): Austrian physicist after whom the Thirring model in quantum field theory is named. He is the son of the physicist Hans Thirring, co-discoverer of the Lense-Thirring frame dragging effect in general relativity.
Antonino Zichichi (born 1929): Italian nuclear physicist and former President of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. He has worked with the Vatican on relations between the Church and Science.[247]
John Polkinghorne (born 1930): British particle physicist and Anglican priest who wrote Science and the Trinity (2004) ISBN 0-300-10445-6. Winner of the 2002 Templeton Prize.[248]
Owen Gingerich (born 1930): Mennonite astronomer who went to Goshen College and Harvard. Mr. Gingerich has written about people of faith in science history.[249]
Russell Stannard (born 1931): British particle physicist who has written several books on the relationship between religion and science, such as Science and the Renewal of Belief, Grounds for Reasonable Belief and Doing Away With God?.[250]......... Andrew Pinsent (born 1966): Fr. Andrew Pinsent, a Catholic priest, is the Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University.[262] He is also a particle physicist, whose previous work contributed to the DELPHI experiment at CERN.[263]
l

And how many of them take the bible literally? Probably none. That is what we are debating here. A lot of them reconcile by effectively ditching the old testament in their belief system, or by taking the creation story as an allegory.

The list of modern non- religious scientists is so massively long it would take up pages of posts, as it's the majority of modern scientists in the West.

Note that no leading biologist or any scientist in a relevant field has leapt to defend the bible's accuracy on creation theory or their claim of a young earth. They reconcile their faith basically by sticking to the NT and teachings of Christ (who was a real person with some good ideas). They don't do literal fundamnetalist views. No arguments against an ancient earth and evolution and plate tectonics. If there were you'd see them. The anti evolution , young earth stuff is remorsely posted by religious people with a very poor grasp of science, not by religious scientists.

To the OP.

Oh statistics and the abuse thereof. I would love to see the following attached to all people reporting on a survey.

1. The numbers of people questioned.
2. Whether the questioned was truly a random sample.
3. Whether the results are statistically significant.
4. What the questions were.
5. The motives and brief for the survey. The Flat Earth Society could probably show that 90% of Americans surveyed (that's nine out of 10) actually believed the Earth was saucer-shaped.

You know, only then can people actually make an objective decision as to whether the survey has merit and - in this case - whether four of ten (or two fifths, or just 40%) Americans believe this, that or the other. For example, is this just adults or are they including kids?

Regards

a reply to: Stormdancer777


You're not grasping that most of these people were unlikely to be fundamentalists who beleived the bible is the literal truth. Why do you think publishing you list of names shows that most scientists are religious? There's reliable research showing IQ and religiosity have in inverse relation. Doesn't mean you never get a high IQ person with a religion , or a low IQ who isn't an atheist. That's just how it generally is.

There are about 700 times as many scientists who support evolution as will even consider creationism as possible.

Timothy Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, addresses the frequent doubts that skeptics and non-believers bring to religion. Using literature, philosophy, anthropology, pop culture, and intellectual reasoning, Keller explains how the belief in a Christian God is, in fact, a sound and rational one. To true believers he offers a solid platform on which to stand against the backlash toward religion spawned by the Age of Skepticism. And to skeptics, atheists, and agnostics he provides a challenging argument for pursuing the reason for God.

The Veritas Forum: Belief in an Age of Skepticism?

youtu.be...




the evolutionary roots of religion

If you have responded without reading the links or watching the videos, your point is moot.

Yes, let's all make fun of Christians. Haha they are so dumb and we are so smart. That's what this thread sounds like. And I bet most of these posters are all "tolerant" and "accepting" Progressives. Oh the irony.

originally posted by: Stormdancer777
a reply to: SonoftheSun

They didn't poll Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhist, paganism, satanism?

of course not, since Christianity is always the main target, and I don't know a single person that believes this.

Oh the grand myth of Christian persecution . . . Christianity is the main focus of religious polls in America for the simple fact that almost 80% of Americans claim to be Christian. Now, worldwide, there are over 4000 sects of Christianity and the only thing they agree on is that Jesus is their savior and he died on a cross. That means no matter what criticisms are leveled against "Christianity" believers are able to find at least one example of a "Christian" who doesn't believe/support the criticism.

While you claim to "not know" anyone that believes the issue at hand . . . If there were no Christians that believed the creation myth . . . things like the "Creation Museum" in KY would not exist. So, your personal beliefs or the circle of Christians you "know" don't really prove much at all.

The problem is actually easy to understand. It is much more confined than people think.

The US doesn't rank very well in the world for education. But this also isn't a fair analysis. The US is basically 50 individually countries. It doesn't compare. But the education system of those states (little countries) are averaged out. So the US gets a C average. This leads to the belief that the entire education system is bad. But it isn't. There are states that pump out Ivy league students like a factory,. and then you have states like Louisiana where some of their high school valedictorians graduate with a C average.

You have schools that are trying to incorporate STEM as much as possible, and then you have states that are trying to remove evolution and replace it with creationism.

This is why some people here report they have never met anyone that believes the earth is 6k years old. People like me. But others have. It depends on the state.

I have lived in many states. I can tell you that they are not equal.

The problem can easily be viewed in just two maps.

The first one is red and blue.



The second one is state ranking by education.



I see the pattern, do you?

hence the problem with the bible thumpers keeping their populations ignorant so they can teach them things like the Earth is only 6k years old.

originally posted by: vonclod
a reply to: solomons path
Im in Canada, Vancouver area..actually we had one friend who got married to this crazy woman and he went right off the deep end with her in this regard, they had a couple of kids..they couldnt do the things most kids do..watch cartoons for example as they are "satanic"..lol, denyed the existence of dinosaurs ..etc. He finally regained some equalibrium and rejoined the real world many years ago. In my whole life thats one that i know for a time believed this kind of stuff..i guess whatever their church was telling them.
I know alot who believe in a higher power not affiliating themselves with any organized religeon and probably the same amount who believe nothing in that regard.
Cheers

Yes . . . you are surrounded by a much different culture up north. The further south you go . . . the more prevalent biblical literalism is. I've spent many vaca's in BC (Victoria Island) and been to Toronto and Montreal, as well. I've never had the sense that biblical literalism is something Canadians are into.

Just to put it in context.

a reply to: jjkenobi

If you believe god created earth 10,000 years ago then your intellect is not worthy of respect, Christian or otherwise.

So what was the question asked?

When Americans are asked...

Since the early 1980s, the National Science Board has asked Americans if they accept the idea that the continents have been moving for millions of years — and 80 percent agree. Ten percent say they don’t know, and only another ten percent firmly reject it.

So here it is 10%, and I would bet even that 10% is saying it out of blind faith even while really understanding the earth is much older.

Personally I have never met a person who suggests the earth is 6000 years old, and I have never been in a church that preaches that too, this is not to say there isn't any, but people believe in all kinds of things too.

a reply to: beezzer

Do you really think a late night show hosted by a comedian is going to show the boring clips of people belting out the right answers?

“You can’t go on “seeing through” things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. To “see through” all things is the same as not to see.”

― C.S. Lewis,

a reply to: Stormdancer777

I really feel we should start looking at the term "religion" a bit differently. Instead of only applying it to behavior that involves God(s), it seems to be a behavior that can go far beyond that. I know someone that guns are their religion. They even have shrines to them, and dont know a whole lot outside of that topic. And yet, we would call it something else.

Atheism has its own brand of "religion" as well, where-in selective hearing and confirmation bias lead to an inevitable conclusion.

I do believe religion is nearing its end, I just hope that humans can embrace it in its many layers. It will not apply to theists only.

I have yet to meet a person who believes the world is 6k years old. Id love to though, just to explore their beliefs. Really not concerned about converting them to my understanding of the universe though.. Ill leave that to religions.

a reply to: nixie_nox

Nox . . . I starred your post, but . . .

Outside of the SE states the other states that rank at the bottom are "blue states".

Also, as an Arizonan, I know that Arizona is in the bottom ten for education (both funding and scoring). Heck, I sent my 9 year old son to live with his mom in Minnesota two year ago (he's now 11), so he could have access to a better education without having to spend $20K a year in AZ for a secular private school. So, I queston the methodology of the "education" map maker.

Why does it really matter what others believe in? It seems like people are just so hellbent on forcing their beliefs on others, right or wrong. Say you have a brain surgeon, does it really matter if he believes in miracles or not?

a reply to: Lice00

It matters because there is a concerted effort by fundamentalist Christians to subvert academic standards by getting their pseudoscientific beliefs taught along side science in the science classes. The world would be a much better place if such people weren't so hellbent on forcing their beliefs on others, as you say.