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Thursday, January 03, 2008

Evolutionary beliefs by the numbers

A new survey of American showed that 61 percent agreed with the statement "all living things have evolved over time."
Out of that majority, 36 percent agreed the cause was "natural processes such as natural selection," while 25 percent agreed that "a supreme being guided the evolution of living things."
COMMENT: I'm a Christian who has yet to be convinced there are workable "all natural" explanations for some of the more unique human traits, such as our desire to engage in philosophy and theology or our ability to appreciate beauty. But I have never understood my friends who argue that the Earth must be young and we are misinterpreting mountains of evidence (literally) that indicates it's billions of years old. Creation science tries to build as case that the tiny number of freakish events contradicting standard science (such as ancient fossils redeposited in newer strata) are the rule rather than the exceptions. As long as you accept the premise that Genesis is an allegory written for people who couldn't possibly understand geology, paleontology, etc., there is no contradiction. Evolution is a bedrock (again, literally) explanation of our origins and should be understood by all. Even if you don't believe it, you need to know it.

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