Why Belief in Evolution is so Low in the US

Jerry Coyne, one of my new heroes, is by no means a univironmental determinist, but he is an excellent determinist, conventional neo-Darwinist, and somewhat frustrated promoter of evolution to the masses. As you may recall, I have quoted him extensively on the perversity of the freewill idea. I highly recommend his Blog site at: http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/author/whyevolutionistrue/. Jerry recently gave an excellent lecture at Harvard, which began with a great review of the critical evidence supporting evolution. He also listed examples of the kind of evidence that would lead to its immediate rejection and pointed out that no such evidence has ever been found. To his chagrin, recent surveys show that the US has the second lowest acceptance of evolution (12%) among 31 Western nations (and Japan). He traces this to the fact that the US is devoutly religious despite its advanced technology. He cites work that demonstrates the inverse correlation between religious belief and the general well-being of the populace as measured by high levels of income inequality, child mortality, incarceration, and low levels of health care. The lecture is 1:15 hr:

http://vimeo.com/41921435

Here is a short news article about the talk:

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/05/the-whys-of-religion-vs-evolution/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=05.09.12%2520%281%29&utm_content

I recommend the talk so highly, because not only it is an excellent review, but also because it will remind us in PSI and NPA what we are up against in overcoming the Big Bang Theory (BBT). As I have maintained for lo these many years, the problem with the BBT, relativity, and modern physics in general is not mathematical; it is philosophical. The struggle between the evolutionists and the creationists is a more mature analog of the struggle between Infinite Universe Theory (IUT) and BBT. Both proceed at a snail’s pace because, like everything else, progress occurs within a univironment. Change in science is highly dependent on change in society, and vice versa. Science is progressive because it inevitably involves an evermore-intensive investigation of the microcosm as well as the macrocosm.

The evolutionists have been working on their theory for over 150 years, and yet, acceptance among the populace is only 12%? Good thing we don’t have to convince all those folks about the correctness of IUT. We only have to convince a few powerful scientists who are smart enough to understand what we are talking about and courageous enough to take on yet another battle with the creationists. We have been plugging away at relativity for almost 110 years—only 40 more to go. Not coincidently perhaps, this will be when the shredding of traditional philosophies will be accompanied by an inevitable global economic readjustment (The Scientific Worldview, p. 290).

Here is the latest on the inverse correlation between supernatural belief and well-being:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#mbox/1374608ce8137b0a