Science quietly wins one of the right's longstanding culture wars

[marmar]

(Salon) The bitter culture wars over the teaching of evolution in public schools dominated headlines throughout the 2000s, in large part because of the Bush administration's coziness with evangelicals who rejected the science on evolution. Yet flash forward to 2021 — when the acrimonious battle over science has shifted from evolution to pandemic public health — and few youngsters are apt to have any idea what "intelligent design" even means. Curiously, despite the right seizing on face mask science and immunology as new battlegrounds in the culture war, the fight over evolution is all but forgotten. In fact, for many Americans, it is completely forgotten.

Though it might seem hard to believe, Americans are more scientifically literate than ever in 2021 — so much so that creationism has become a minority opinion. And Americans are likewise been able to identify intelligent design and other forms of creationism as the inherently religious theories that they are.

We know this thanks to a new study published in the journal Public Understanding of Science, one which analyzed surveys of public opinion since 1985 and noticed a trend in attitudes about evolution. As more Americans became highly educated — obtaining university degrees, taking college science courses, displaying rising levels of civi science literacy — acceptance of evolution grew accordingly.

From 1985 until 2010, there had been a statistical dead heat among Americans who were asked if they agreed that "human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals." Acceptance then began to increase, becoming a majority position in 2016 and reaching 54 percent in 2019. Even 32 percent of religious fundamentalists accepted evolution as of 2019, a stark contrast from the mere 8 percent who did so in 1988. Eighty-three percent of liberal Democrats said they accept evolution, compared to only 34 percent of conservative Republicans. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/08/24/more-americans-believe-in-evolution/

[RKP5637]

1. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[lagomorph777]

2. Glad we're moving out of the neolitihic.

Sad it's taking so long here.

[Elessar Zappa]

3. Good but it's still

pathetic that only 54% believe in evolution. It’s possible to simultaneously accept science and believe in a creator.

[genxlib]

4. That's my thought

Pretty fucking low bar to celebrate about.

[Botany]

6. And Adam and Eve were white, styled their hair, and used hair care products.

KY's tax payer funded bible themed creation and ark "thing."

Still lots of dumb asses out there.

[Poiuyt]

8. I don't believe that one can simultaneously accept science and believe in a creator.

In my opinion, science and religion are fundamentally incompatible. Science gains truth through observation and reasoning based on those observations. Religion relies on a belief that something exists that can never be proven or proven false. It's true that many great scientists have believed in God, but I think they are willfully ignoring their scientific training. You can't believe in the scientific methods for some things but not others. If you applies those scientific methods to determine the existence of a creator, you will quickly see that there is no empirical evidence pointing to its existence.

[Elessar Zappa]

9. The question of a creator is outside of science's purview.

Plenty of scientists believe in a god or creator. It’s a question of faith, not science.

[greenjar_01]

5. Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District decision (by a Bush appointed judge, by the way)

was utterly definitive, and pretty much destroyed any weight that so-called "intelligent design" might have had. It was all over but the crying after that.

It's also one of the best written and argued decisions you'll ever read. Everyone should read Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.

[lastlib]

10. Agreed.

It was a crushing blow to creationist mis-education, but it hasn't stoped the galactically stupid from stupiding. I still encounter the "I don't care what any book says, I still believe the Bible!" mentality.

Some of the monkeys came down from the trees head-first.

[Thomas Hurt]

7. The christofascists began their cultural jihad with Reagan not Bush.

[Duncan Grant]

11. I'm reminded of the "Ark Encounter" in Kentucky.

The Kentucky ark had dinosaurs on it because you know — the Bible.