Steve and Greg, clear your minds for a moment and admit that the following quote posted by Greg is both false and misleading. Sez Greg: 42% of Americans hold the creationist belief that God created humanity as it currently exists a mere 10,000 years ago, according to a Gallup poll from May 2014.

Greg repeats (changing the words ever so slightly but not admitting to it): However you wish to wriggle and squirm, 42% agreed with "3) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so." What is it about that answer that confuses you? It has nothing to do with "being posted thousands of times on the internet. The survey, and the results, are documented. Live with it.

Here are the facts, Greg: 42% said that the third statement came closest to their views. Admit it. That's a huge difference.

And I think the survey would have much more credibility it it offered a fourth scenario:

4. I don't know and I don't care.

I think the vast majority would choose #4. Many, many things are far more important than evolution in the minds and lives of most people.

The idea of evolution is credible to me, and it's what I taught my children. But I wouldn't lose sleep if a better theory came out tomorrow. I can go for weeks without thinking of evolution for a moment, but yet Pete sees opposition to evolution as a major aspect of his faith.

That would be a good survey question: How much do you really care about evolution?

1. My entire world would come to an end if it were proved true/untrue
   
2. It's interesting, but not as interesting as yesterday's hockey game
   
3. Not at all

Click here to go to the actual Gallup poll. Why depend on third-hand sources?

And I think "I don't know and I don't care" goes for lots of stuff in this thread. For most normal people, it's just not all that important to have possession of the absolute truth on all subjects. We know the stuff we do, and we know the stuff we're interested in. For the rest of things, it's nice to have general knowledge, but not all that important to be absolutely correct about every little thing. And those people who are concerned about being absolutely correct, are blinded so that they cannot see or understand or respect alternate perspectives. Is it more important to be correct and to stand for The Truth, than it is to be open to a variety of perspectives? I know our militant atheists don't like my calling them "born again atheists," because they really are just as rigid in their thinking as the "born again Christians" are. I keep trying to shock them into being open to a variety of perspectives. It won't hurt them.

Try being wrong on occasion, Steve and Shimrod and Raggytash - and Pete. It won't hurt you, and it may open your eyes to alternatives.

-Joe-