Where did you get the post title from? I don't remember the phrase "neo-Darwinism" in the poll. The 16% believe in naturalistic evolution, but no specific theory was mentioned.
Eye-Squared-R writes:
Correct. But virtually all Americans do not believe the Earth is flat - because they’ve been exposed to the abundant evidence.
That is precisely the opportunity presented in this thread: to both present and defend the evidence for neo-Darwinism in a publishable venue that could help educate the masses.
Is it?
How would it help when masses of published work by biologists is already available to them? And have you not yet understood that comments about people being ignorant, stupid or delusional relate to the denial of the
fact of evolution, not to any particular explanatory theory? They apply largely to the 40% in the Gallup poll who believe that humans were created as we are.
E-S-R writes:
According to your Gallup reference, only 16% believe human DNA developed without God's involvement. This poll indicates a larger opportunity for neo-Darwinian evolutionists to educate Americans than I had imagined. If there are 308 million people in the US, the 84% unbelievers or skeptics in neo-Darwinism (unguided Random Mutations and Natural Selection) that you could help educate would amount to over 258 million people!
How? What information can I make available to religious Americans that is not already easily available to them
if they were interested in it? And what makes you think that evidence ever had anything to do with their religious beliefs? The 84% are believing what 90% believed a few decades ago, what more than 90% would have probably believed 100 years ago, and what nearly 100% would have believed 200 years ago. The origin of the belief is cultural, it is passed down generations, and isn't built on evidence.
E-S-R writes:
The point is the vast majority of Americans are evidently either not aware of the evidence or not persuaded by the evidence for neo-Darwinism (purely naturalistic view) as they are the evidence for a spherical Earth.
Would you please help educate these folks by committing to present and defend the evidence in a broad publishable format Bluegenes?
Again, if you think that a lack of published information on biology is the reason 84% of Americans believe a god was involved in their creation, you are wrong. They are inclined to believe what they heard repeatedly as little children. Kids brought up in traditional non-theistic religions don't believe in creator gods, and kids brought up to believe that the Koran is the word of god are much more likely to believe that than you or I.
The purely naturalistic view is more prevalent in Europe because of a significantly greater decline in religious belief, and lower general intensity of the indoctrination of children with religious belief, not because of a difference in the scientific information available.
Projects like the one you claim to be proposing make no difference. The 16% of naturalists will grow over time, but not rapidly, and there are many complex factors involved in cultural change.
I mentioned the Gallup poll because you said this:
E-S-R writes:
According to most polls of American beliefs, evolution is losing in the marketplace of ideas as demonstrated by the magnitude of unbelievers.
It is, in fact, gaining from the point of virtual zero it would have had 150 years ago, and the magnitude of unbelievers (measured by percentage) is on an inevitable decline. It's a pity they don't break down the figures by age group. Then you could see which direction things are going.
E-R-S writes:
And if you are unable to make a firm commitment to a professional publishable debate in any of the disciplines listed in prior posts, please share with us your reason for declining - if you don’t mind.
Reason? Apart from having no evidence that an anonymous poster on the Internet is actually arranging such a thing? Here's a reason.
If I'm debating with people who are proposing non-living intelligent beings as a mechanism in biology, I consider the debate to be won if they cannot establish the existence of non-living intelligent beings as a genre. That has never been done. I can demonstrate the existence of my mechanisms, like chemical reactions, mutation, natural selection, drift etc., and I expect the same standards of the opposition.
So, if you find a creationist who can actually demonstrate the existence of the genre (non-living intelligent beings) then I will happily participate in a debate as to whether or not one or more such beings is doing or has done some designing in the biosphere and is responsible for life.
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