35% of Albertans believe in creationism

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by peter12

They are normally quite prosperous, rational, and industrious folk.

I learned a long time ago to be cautious and look at the bigger picture when citing the rational, intelligent, or well educated people behind a particular movement or idea. You can always find seemingly rational people (even some experts) in support of wild ideas- scientists for 911 truth for example. When you consider what the vast majority of the experts conclude though...

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Who cares! Creationism to me is the very bottom of the barrel. Rights and Freedoms can only go so far in my estimation, at some point the human race needs to step in and say "no dear child, we've grown beyond this belief, it's time to put this to rest". The charter of rights and freedoms is at a point now where it is being exploited. And Creationism is leading the charge.

Is it protected under the charter of rights and freedoms to freely promote and believe in extemist Islam? Is that not condemned and rightfully so? Creationism is a form of extremism and should be treated as such.

Ironically, your opinion is the most ignorant one in this thread.

Also, yes, one does have a protected right under the Charter to freely promote and believe in extremist Islam. There are and have been groups that promoted the use of Sharia Law, for instance. (You don't have the right to advocate for violence and the like, but that represents a nuance that I doubt you are capable of understanding.)

However, the rest of the society certainly has the right to condemn it - and condemn creationism - and society certainly does not have to support it. But what you fail to understand is that your argument that people should not be allowed to choose what they believe and think puts you far closer to the supporters of 'extremist Islam' than you would feel comfortable with.


So, with that in mind, I don't give a rats ass about people who choose to believe in creationism. However it is not something that should be taught in schools. Science should always trump theology in the public system.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

It isn't a guaranteed right to teach such ideas in public school.

I may be mistaken, but Peter12 isn't arguing that it should be taught in school, certainly not public school. He was responding to Damage79 arguing that they shouldn't have the right to believe in Creationism.

While I certainly don't agree with them, they absolutely have a right to believe in it. It's the first one listed under Fundamental Freedoms.

[ken0042]

What was the poll question? Was it:
- Do you believe that God or some other supreme being created the earth?
Or
- Do you believe in creationism; the specific belief that the earth is less that 10,000 years old?

Myself being a "go to church once or twice per year" Christian, I do believe that God created the earth. In so much that God caused the universe to be created with the big bang, and 10 billion years after the big bang the earth was formed.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by ken0042

What was the poll question? Was it:
- Do you believe that God or some other supreme being created the earth?
Or
- Do you believe in creationism; the specific belief that the earth is less that 10,000 years old?

The options were:

"Human beings evolved from less
advanced life forms over millions of
years"


"God created human beings in their
present form within the last 10,000
years"

and

"Unsure"

[Oling_Roachinen]

I think there's the potential that some participants who believe in God, but not Creationism, may have been inclined to select the second option as they believe in God while the first didn't mention it. That obviously was not the intent of the question, but I think it's a possibility.

I think the poll would have been a better indication if it was something like:

"Human beings evolved from less
advanced life forms over millions of
years through the intelligent design intervention of God"

"Human beings evolved from less
advanced life forms over millions of
years through the absence of a higher being"

"God created human beings in their
present form within the last 10,000
years"

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

The options were:
"Human beings evolved from less
advanced life forms over millions of
years"

And

"God created human beings in their
present form within the last 10,000
years"

Participants were expected to pick the option that came closest to the their beliefs. Picking the latter is clearly a vote for Creationism. I do agree that the options were limited but if you believe in intelligent design and evolution, as is taught by Catholicism and many other Christian sects, then the first option was clearly the choice meant to be selected because it is not ruling out God's intervention. The second option very clearly rules out any form of evolution.

Though the questions could also be interpreted as God has a role and God doesn't have a role so reluctantly pick the creationist option.

That 35% number is out of whack and 4 years out of date.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by ken0042

What was the poll question? Was it:
- Do you believe that God or some other supreme being created the earth?
Or
- Do you believe in creationism; the specific belief that the earth is less that 10,000 years old?

Myself being a "go to church once or twice per year" Christian, I do believe that God created the earth. In so much that God caused the universe to be created with the big bang, and 10 billion years after the big bang the earth was formed.

That's pretty fantastic Rube Goldburg machine he created to keep up the momentum for this long!

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

I think there's the potential that some participants who believe in God, but not Creationism, may have been inclined to select the second option as they believe in God while the first didn't mention it. That obviously was not the intent of the question, but I think it's a possibility.

I think the poll would have been a better indication if it was something like:

"Human beings evolved from less
advanced life forms over millions of
years through the intelligent design of God"

"Human beings evolved from less
advanced life forms over millions of
years through the absence of a higher being"

"God created human beings in their
present form within the last 10,000
years"

Your first option shouldn't say intelligent design though because that is the "theory" of creationism and this missed the deist philosophy of a non-intervening God who kick it all off.

I go with with the involvement of God.

[Canehdianman]

I call BS on the 35% figure.

[Tacopuck]

I once went to the Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller and the Big Valley creation science museum on the same day. I went with 2 geologists and an engineer (i'm also an engg). We started at the Tyrrell museum and spent maybe 1.5 hours at most in that huge museum, but we spent over 4 hours in the Big Valley "Creation Science Museum" which is the size of a bedroom debating all the crazy "science" they were presenting.

It was a very entertaining day, would recommend.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by peter12

Christians need to get over creationism.

Christians need to get over Christianity.

There are an inestimable number of religions and beliefs in the world. The belief that your personal faith - decided upon with no evidence basis - is the correct one; and that you are chosen, pre-destined, etc. and the rest of humanity (and 99% of all sentient life that has ever existed over millions of years) is simply here to die and/or suffer for eternity in a supernatural after-world is simply mind boggl...I mean mind-bottling - and one of the most apathetic forms of cruelty imaginable. It is a self-centered, arrogant, and short-sighted position that no rational or compassionate person should be able to justify. I know this first-hand as this form of cognitive dissonance was something I desperately tried to justify during my irrational and indoctrinated youth.

[calumniate]

Yes, there have been aliens:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/op...en-aliens.html

Good enough for me!

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Christians need to get over Christianity.

There are an inestimable number of religions and beliefs in the world. The belief that your personal faith - decided upon with no evidence basis - is the correct one; and that you are chosen, pre-destined, etc. and the rest of humanity (and 99% of all sentient life that has ever existed over millions of years) is simply here to die and/or suffer for eternity in a supernatural after-world is simply mind boggl...I mean mind-bottling - and one of the most apathetic forms of cruelty imaginable. It is a self-centered, arrogant, and short-sighted position that no rational or compassionate person should be able to justify. I know this first-hand as this form of cognitive dissonance was something I desperately tried to justify during my irrational and indoctrinated youth.

In terms of major religions Christians are probably getting over Christianity faster than any other.

[Enoch Root]

was this survey conducted entirely in rural communities south of Lethbridge?

[CliffFletcher]

I call BS. Only a quarter of Albertans even attend church regularly.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Like others in this thread, I remember a girl in HS about 15 years ago who claimed that the earth was only 5-6k years old.

Her story wasn't a conspiracy, just that when lizards die their bones keep growing and that scientists misidentified their bones as being from dinosaurs.

[Enoch Root]

What is the overall, North American weighting for creationists? I thought it was around 1% but I am not sure by any means.

If it's around 1%, then an extremely high density in Alberta would be more like 5%, not 35%.

[Huntingwhale]

[PsYcNeT]

Apparently a lot of calls were made to Stockwell Day's house.