NCSE Evolution and Climate Education Update for 2013/07/26
Submitted by Peter Burns on Fri, 2013-07-26 16:04.
National Center for Science Education
(by NCSE Deputy Director Glenn Branch)
Dear friends of NCSE, A new poll on evolution and creationism offers a degree of encouraging news. And a Houdini award for NCSE's Eugenie C. Scott.
YOUGOV POLL ON EVOLUTION A new poll from YouGov suggests that in the United States the level of public acceptance of creationism and the level for support for teaching creationism in the public schools are down. Asked "Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin of human beings," 21% of respondents preferred "Human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years, and God did not directly guide this process," 25% preferred "Human [beings] evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years, but God guided this process," 37% preferred "God created human beings in their present form within the last ten thousand years," and 17% were not sure. YouGov noted that in a 2004 poll conducted by CBS News, only 13% of respondents preferred "Human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years, and God did not directly guide this process"; 27% preferred "Human [beings] evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years, but God guided this process," 55% preferred "God created human beings in their present form within the last ten thousand years," and 5% said they didn't know or didn't answer. In the YouGov poll, preference for the creationist option was stronger among females than males (43% to 31%), respondents aged 30-44, 45-64, and 65+ than respondents aged 18-29 (34%, 42%, and 39% to 21%), Republicans than Democrats and independents (55% to 31% and 32%), blacks than whites and Hispanics (49% to 37% and 30%), those with less than high school, high school, or some college than college grads or post grads (41%, 44%, and 39% to 26% and 16%), respondents in the Midwest and South than respondents in the Northeast and West (46% and 46% to 28% and 24%), Muslims, Protestants, and Eastern or Greek Orthodox than Mormons, Hindus, Roman Catholics, "nothing in particular," Jews, atheists, Buddhists, and agnostics (64%, 59%, and 53% to 38%, 35%, 30%, 24%, 17%, 2%, 0%, and 0%). Asked, "Do you favor or oppose the teaching of creationism or intelligent design in public schools," 40% of respondents indicated that they favored it, 32% indicated that they opposed it, and 29% indicated that they were unsure. YouGov observed that the teaching of creationism in the public schools is unconstitutional, referring to the decisions in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) and Kitzmiller v. Dover (2005). The results from the 2004 CBS poll are not directly comparable, since there were two questions -- one asking about teaching creationism along with evolution; one asking teaching about creationism instead of evolution -- and both mentioned creationism only, not using the phrase "intelligent design." Still, as many as 65% of respondents then favored the teaching of creationism along with evolution. In the YouGov poll, the level of support for teaching "creationism or intelligent design in the public schools" was strongest among Republicans (57%, as opposed to 38% of independents and 30% of Democrats) and Mormons and Protestants (76% and 52%, as opposed to 42% of Roman Catholics, 32% of Jews, 29% of "nothing in particular", and 17% of agnostics). The level of opposition was strongest among those with post-college education (51%, as opposed to 16% for those who haven't finished high school, 23% for those who graduated from high school, 34% with some college education, and 43% for college graduates) and Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, and Eastern or Greek Orthodox (84%, 83%, 67%, and 60%, as opposed to 42% of Jews, 34% of "nothing in particular," 23% of Roman Catholics, 21% of Protestants, and 9% of Mormons). Evidently the sample size was 1000 and the survey was conducted July 8-9, 2013; further details of how the poll was conducted are not readily apparent. For the results of the poll (PDF), visit: http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/d39q50o8bw/tabs_evolution_0708092013.pdf For information about the poll, visit: http://today.yougov.com/news/2013/07/22/belief-in-evolution-up-since-2004/ EUGENIE C. SCOTT TO RECEIVE HOUDINI AWARD NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott is to be inducted into the Independent Investigation Group's Houdini Hall of Honor, according to a July 20, 2013, press release from the IIG. The honor is bestowed on people who have devoted their careers to promoting scientific and critical thinking to the public. Previous recipients, whose names are displayed on a plaque, include Harry Houdini and Carl Sagan, The Amazing Randi (a member of NCSE's Advisory Council), Joe Nickell, Martin Gardner, Isaac Asimov and Ray Hyman, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Scott will be presented with the award at 7:00 p.m. on July 29 at the Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry -- Los Angeles, 4773 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Admission is free although donations to support the event are welcome. The Independent Investigations Group (IIG) is a group of volunteers established by James Underdown in 2000 as an adjunct to the Center for Inquiry -- Los Angeles. The charter of the group is to investigate claims of the supernatural and paranormal and to disseminate the results of those investigations to the public. For the press release, visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/7/prweb10944694.htm Thanks for reading. And don't forget to visit NCSE's website -- http://ncse.com -- where you can always find the latest news on evolution and climate education and threats to them. -- Sincerely, Glenn Branch Deputy Director National Center for Science Education, Inc. 420 40th Street, Suite 2 Oakland, CA 94609-2509 510-601-7203 x305 fax: 510-601-7204 800-290-6006 branch@ncse.com http://ncse.com Read Reports of the NCSE on-line: http://reports.ncse.com Subscribe to NCSE's free weekly e-newsletter: http://groups.google.com/group/ncse-news NCSE is on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/evolution.ncse http://www.youtube.com/NatCen4ScienceEd http://twitter.com/ncse NCSE's work is supported by its members. Join today! http://ncse.com/join
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