Let's just get this out there:
It's plain goofy
to say you don't believe that human evolution is a fact of history. Every
credible scientist in the world understands the truth of evolution. Evolution
made us what we are.
The classic
disdain of the theory of human evolution is that "man did not descend from
monkeys." Well, that's actually true. Humans (genus Homo) are biological
descendants of the great apes. Gorillas and chimpanzees split off from our
human forefathers (Hominidae) about 4.6 million years ago, and the first tool-making
human type (Homo habilis) evolved about 2.3 million years ago. The rest is history.
But, here's the thing:
A recent Pew Research Center report says that, along with increasing political partisanship
in the United States, belief in evolution has slipped in the last four years. Now,
only 60% of Americans believe that humans "have evolved over time."
Wow. Yeah. That's 40% of Americans saying either they don't believe it or they
don't know.
And by the way, the
"don't know" crowd, according to Pew Research, includes about 22 million
people. I think those "don't know" respondents must have misunderstood,
or they deliberately fudged their answers. How can anyone "not know" about
evolution? I think it's probably fair to
say that there are really only about eight people in the U. S. who absolutely
never heard any mention of human evolution, I think they all live on a dead end
street, somewhere….
I absolutely and
forthrightly believe that each individual has the right to independent opinions
in all matters involving personal
experience, preference and judgment….however, as the man said, you get to have
your own opinions but you don't get to have your own facts.
The sun rises in
the east. A dropped apple falls down. A baby can't lift a Steinway. Humans and
animals and plants have evolved from earlier forms—the fossil record and DNA
chemistry and the universal scientific consensus say so.
I think that many
people who say they doubt evolution are saying it for reasons that have
nothing to do with biology and chemistry and anthropology.
And this part confuses
me: the Pew Research Center reports that, in the last four years, the percentage
of Democrats who say evolution is real has increased from 64% to 67%. The
percentage of Republicans who accept the reality of evolution has dropped from 54%
to 43%, while 48% of Republicans say that "humans and other living things have
existed in their present form since the beginning of time."
That's goofy.
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