Quote Originally Posted by CBR View Post
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evoluti...heory_and_fact
Ugh, thank you, it seems that every other day in the Backroom I have to explain to people that the scientific definition of a theory is nearly opposite of the popular definition...



In other news, addressing the original thread title, the disbelief of evolution is rising in the US, with only 39% stating directly "they believe in evolution" (this would answer your question, Lemur). Quite embarrassingly so, and ever more farcically, all the Christian/creationist sites are mentioning this with glee, while I guffaw, since all they succeed in doing is persuading me that Americans are stupider than I previously gave them credit for... (my apologies to all the Americans here - I am not big on stereotyping Americans in the popular manner, but c'mon, with such statistics, how is it possible to refrain from making such a statement?)

This is the official Gallup article. Read it. It has a score of other polls on the topic of creationism vs. evolution. The big worry in the article is the fact that only 29% of the evolution non-believers can tie the name "Charles Darwin" to the concept "evolution". The other 71% have no idea what link the name "Charles Darwin" has to evolution. Basically, they have no idea who Charles Darwin was. Therefore, they do not even understand the basic concepts of the theory they (at times) so vehemently reject. That is the worst type of denial: ignorant denial. They are stupid and ignorant. It is one thing to reject a common scientific fact, and another thing to reject it, without actually understanding it.

And such ignorance is common. Jesus Christ, if I had as little as a the defunct half-pence for every time I heard "yeah, well, I do not believe we descended from monkeys" I would be richer than Warren Buffet+Bill Gates... It is literally the most common phrase an American utter upon hearing 'evolution'. Unless I am mistaken, even some of the Backroomers here said that. WRONG. Evolution does not say that, get it right!