ANTI-EVOLUTIONISM

Anti-evolutionism is alive and well, not just in California, but nationally.

American Museum of Natural History 1994
Science and Nature Survey Louis Harris and Associates

In 1994, the American Museum of Natural History conducted a national poll on understanding of science and enthusiasm for science.

(AMNH) The earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, true or false?
(a) True 35% (b) False 51% (c) Not sure 14%

One question they asked is "Humans lived at the time of dinosaurs. True or False?" Only 51% of the American public knew this was false, which means that 49% either think or are not sure about whether the Flintstones is a documentary. Now, I suspect that the reason for this misunderstanding, I get lots of horror stories about polls on American understanding of evolution which I will not inflict upon you, but I think that part of this is not just programs like the Flintstones. I really think we understand that the Flintstones is fiction, but there are a lot of people out there who don't like the idea of descent with modification. They prefer the idea that everything was created in its present form.

There are people who think that evolution is evil. If you take a look at the branches of this tree, you find atheism, abortion, government regulation, social gospel, acceptance of homosexuality, (all these evils) and you look at the foundation of all these evils of society, and that's evolution.

The states of New Mexico, Illinois and Arizona have all, within the last year, removed the "e-word" from the state science frameworks. We are in a rather better position here in California because the California Science Framework is very good.

Usually anti-evolutionists are called Creationists, but this term needs defining. In fact, this is a very good place to stop and define a couple of terms.

CONTINUE