Scott Alexander recently reminded me of a great post by Scott Alexander where Scott…

Scott Alexander recently reminded me of a great post by Scott Alexander where Scott Alexander said:

According to Gallup polls, about 46% of Americans are creationists. Not just in the sense of believing God helped guide evolution. I mean they think evolution is a vile atheist lie and God created humans exactly as they exist right now. That’s half the country.

And I don’t have a single one of those people in my social circle. It’s not because I’m deliberately avoiding them; I’m pretty live-and-let-live politically, I wouldn’t ostracize someone just for some weird beliefs. And yet, even though I probably know about a hundred fifty people, I am pretty confident that not one of them is creationist. Odds of this happening by chance? 1/2^150 = 1/10^45 = approximately the chance of picking a particular atom if you are randomly selecting among all the atoms on Earth.

I Can Tolerate Anything Except The Outgroup
[Content warning: Politics, religion, social justice, spoilers for “The Secret of Father Brown”. This isn’t especially original to me and I don’t claim anything more than to…

  1. That figure does seem very high, but there are many Creationists. My Dad taught Biology (in Missouri) and had several parents who did complain about him teaching evolution, but I don't think they pushed that hard. I guess it could be that some states have more  than others. I think that some people do see scientists as bashing religion, but statistics don't seem to back that up.

    I don't have time to read your attached article right now, but I will read it later:-)

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