That brings me to the point of this posting today. In the latest polls on what Americans think about science facts suggests that a large number of the citizens of the Earth’s wealthiest nation are rooted firmly in their biblical convictions. Knowing this it should be no wonder that statements by many in the federal House of Representatives and Senate, and in the congresses of state government reflect similar positions. The poll I’m referring to is the AP-GfK poll of 1,012 Americans age 18 or older conducted in March 2014. The poll makes a series of general scientific and unscientific fact statements and asks people to express confidence in their accuracy.
When asked to respond this is what the Americans surveyed thought:
“The universe is so complex, there must be a supreme being guiding its creation.”
“The average temperature of the world is rising, mostly because of man-made heat-trapping greenhouse gases.”
“Life on Earth, including human beings evolved through a process of natural selection.”
“The Earth is 4.5 billion years old.”
“The universe began 13.8 billion years ago with a Big Bang.”
Of those who responded to the poll:
In terms of age groups:
The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.4% with a 95% confidence level for the total results.
What the poll shows is that whatever is being taught in science classrooms in the United States today and in the recent past, the information is not sticking for many. Why? Religious belief is the principle reason. The battle between scientific fact and faith is being won by the latter rather than the former. You would think the science of Hubble, Darwin and Einstein would by now be seen as irrefutable regardless of faith but it clearly is not.
Instead people’s acceptance of science is very selective. For example when asked to respond to the statement:
“Smoking causes cancer.”
So that science is getting through. Or look at the results of the statement.
“Overusing antibiotics causes the development of drug-resistant bacteria.” This is clearly a statement that supports natural selection in the evolution of drug-resistant strains of bacteria. And here the responses are:
And this one which is all about the human genome,
“Inside our cells, there is a complex genetic code that helps determine who we are.” This is the mechanism of natural selection and yet here:
What this shows is selective listening when it comes to understanding science. And if science fact intrudes on faith then the light of science goes out. I call this blissful ignorance. And this is the same issue when the facts of climate science are presented. While here there is no conflict with faith unless there is some biblical attribution to Noah’s flood or the “End of Days.”
On a more positive note, the latest national American survey completed on April 20, 2014 and conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication shows that when asked about what they believe should be the federal government’s very high or high priority regarding the environment Americans respond as follows:
When directly confronted with questions specific to the issue of the environment, the above results suggest that Americans do accept science facts when considering policies they believe governments should enact. It is hard to reconcile the blissful ignorance about greenhouse gases and climate change with the environmental conviction expressed by a significant number of Americans who want the government to address global warming. If global warming isn’t human-caused then what do Americans think their government can do?
