From LibDem
Here are the results of a Harris Poll taken in 2009:
Believed in Darwin’s theory of evolution:
51% of Catholics,
32% of Protestants,
80% of Jews, and
16% of born-again Christians.Believed in creationism:
37% of Catholics,
56% of Protestants,
20% of Jews, and
68% of born-again Christians.Overall, the results were basically unchanged from 2007, when 42% of respondents believed in evolution and 39% of respondents believed in creationism. The poll was conducted on-line on November 2 and 11, 2009, among 2303 adults in the United States; figures were weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population.
http://ncse.com/news/2009/12/evolution-new-harris-poll-005232
From the NCSE
Gallup Poll in May, 2012: A new Gallup poll on public opinion about evolution suggests that the rate of acceptance of evolution in the United States is “essentially unchanged” over the years. Asked in May 2012 “[w]hich of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings,”
- 32% of the respondents accepted “Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process,”
- 15% accepted “Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process,” and
- 46% accepted “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.”
Pew Poll in 2009:
- ”Nearly all scientists (97%) say humans and other living things have evolved over time,” while only 61% of the public agrees, according to a new report (PDF, p. 37) from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Asked which comes closer to their view, “Humans and other living things have evolved over time” or “Humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time,”
- 97% of scientists responding chose the former option, as opposed to only 2% choosing the latter option;
- 61% of the public responding chose the former option, as opposed to 31% choosing the latter option.
Those who chose the former option were also asked whether they preferred “Humans and other living things have evolved due to natural processes such as natural selection” or “A supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today.”
- Among scientists, 87% preferred the former option and 8% preferred the latter option;
- among the public, 32% preferred the former option and 22% preferred the latter option.
A poll of Protestant pastors in the United States found that they “overwhelmingly believe that God did not use evolution to create humans and think Adam and Eve were literal people,” according to a press release (January 9, 2012) issued by LifeWay Research. Presented with “I believe God used evolution to create people,”
- 12% of respondents strongly agreed,
- 12% somewhat agreed,
- 8% somewhat disagreed, and
- 64% strongly disagreed;
- 4% were unsure.
Chemical Evidence for the Timeframe of Evolution
Carbon occurs in three varieties: 12C, 13C, and 14C. Normal carbon has 6 protons and 6 neutrons, and is called 12C. However, carbon may have one or two extra neutrons, creating 13C or 14C. Atoms with the same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons, are called different isotopes of the same element.
When organisms ingest carbon, they preferentially use 12C over 13C. (14C is radioactive, and thus won’t remain over a long time period.) Carbon with a high ratio of 12C compared to 13C is therefore an indicator of living processes. Carbon enriched in 12C has been identified in rocks from Greenland dated at 3.85 billions of years ago (Ga or Gyr). This is the earliest evidence for life on Earth.
The Fossil Record
Stromatolites are structures created by photosynthetic bacteria (prokaryotes; e.g. cyanobacteria mentioned in “Darwin was Right”). These rounded, bulbous shapes are usually less than 1 meter across and contain fine layering.
Photosynthetic bacteria live on thin mats in shallow water. As they become covered in clay and particles, these bacteria move upwards toward the light they require. This movement leaves behind dead layers, much in the same way that trees leave behind inner wood as they grow. Stromatolites are recognizable because of the “tree ring” structure that records the movement of bacteria.
The earliest known fossils of stromatolites are dated at 3.45 Ga, and come from Western Australia. Ironically, the highly-saline bays of Western Australia are one of the few places in the world today where living stromatolites exist.
Timeline:
1. 4.54 Ga (Billion Years): Earth forms
2. 4.4 Ga: continental crust present (Wilde et al., 2001)
3. 4.3 Ga: liquid water present at surface (Mojzsis et al., 2001)
4. 3.85 Ga: isotopically “light” carbon shows the earliest chemical signature of life (Nutman et al., 1997; Mojzsis et al., 1996)
5. 3.45 Ga: stromatolites, Western Australia photosynthetic prokaryotes
6. 2.7 Ga: steranes, a chemical signature of eukaryotes
References:
•Mojzsis, S.J., Harrison, T.M., and Pidgeon, R.T., 2001. “Oxygen-isotopes evidence from ancient zircons for liquid water at the Earth’s surface 4,300 Myr ago.” Nature, 11 January 2001, v. 409, no. 6817, p. 178-81.
•Mojzsis, S.J., Arrehenius G., McKeegan, K.D., Harrison, T.M., Nutman, A.P., and Friend, C.R., 1996. “Evidence for life on Earth before 3,800 million years ago.” Nature, 7 November 1996, v. 384, no. 6604, p. 55-59.
•Nutman, A.P., Mojzsis, S.J., and Friend, C.R., 1997. “Recognition of > or = 3850 Ma water-laden sediments in West Greenland and their significance for the early Archaean Earth.” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 61, no. 12, p. 2475-2484.
•Wilde, S.A., Valley, J.W., Peck, W.H., and Graham, C.M., 2001. “Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago.” Nature, 11 January 2001, v. 409, no. 6817, p. 175-80.
This speaks for itself, Newcomer. What is it you don’t understand. JL
John,
Can you help me interpret what this data means in terms of creation and evolution theory? What does the earliest presence of bacteria and life-friendly carbon mean for the purpose of our discussion? I’m not making the connection between how the presence of these stromatolites and 12c carbons relates to humans.
I apologize for my scientific ignorance, but it is what it is.
Read it like reading the Bible literally. It speaks for itself. JL
John,
I understand the surveys. It’s the part below it I don’t get. Do I have it correct that the above timeline shows the earth “evolving” to support more advanced forms of life? Is that all that it says or am I missing something?
NC-
It shows that if we believe early life forms evolved over time, then the process started as early as 3.85 Ga
(Giga-annum, usually abbreviated as Ga, is a unit of time equal to one billion years. For example, 4.55 Ga indicates 4.55 billion.)
In terms of evolution vs creationism, according to the polls, it appears that there are broad differences in what scientists believe and what the public believes, despite this data.
If you are interested in learning more about evolution and the science that supports it, I would recommend the book below (link). It has a lot of depth, yet it is easy to read. It provides a step by step approach from 4 Ga forward. A very good read. Scientifically based but geared for the lay public. John may have other recommendations that are even better and perhaps more current.
http://www.amazon.com/Microcosmos-Billion-Years-Microbial-Evolution/dp/0520210646/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341015667&sr=1-1&keywords=microcosmos
Data like this is so depressing. Here is proof that large numbers of Americans either do not know about the science or have been systematically taught to ignore it or disbelieve it.
LibDem,
Thank you for the help. I didn’t know what the Ga stands for.
I’m getting the impression that John’s good and fed up with me discussing religion at this point, but in answer to his original line of questioning (and taking into consideration the above survey regarding what Protestant pastors believe) this shows the differences between different denominations of Christians. That’s really all that I’ve been trying to point out.
Nothing in the scientific timeline that John presents here is inconsistent with the Catholic view of Creation. So, for Catholics, you can totally accept this timeline and still believe that God created the heavens and the earth and got the ball rolling, as well as creating the process of evolution and then let it all evolve gradually over millions of years just as scientists are demonstrating. Most Christians believe that God is eternal and has existed throughout time, with no beginning and no end, which gives him billions upon billions of years (and then some) to do anything He desires to do.
But based on the survey data above, I guess Protestant ministers would disagree.
And a quick comment about the statement from the above survey that says, “A poll of Protestant pastors in the United States found that they “overwhelmingly believe that God did not use evolution to create humans and think Adam and Eve were literal people,”
In our modern-day language, the word “Adam” has become a guy’s name. That’s not how the word was used in ancient Hebrew. We err when we try to read the ancient writings of Scripture through the lens of our contemporary society. The word “Adam” (pronounced AA-DAHM) translates from ancient-Hebrew into english as “man”. So in the Genesis creation story, it says that God created the first human and called His male human creation “man”. The story gives the impression that God created man in an instant, but Catholics are not required to accept that because it is part of the literary devices used. All that Catholics need to believe is that God personally created the first male and female and established a Covenant relationship with them. It is left up to each believer to decide for themself whether He created them in an instant as in Genesis, or whether He began the Creation process through evolution and then, once the first man and woman were fully formed, then He made the Covenant relationship with them.
So, God created the first human male and female. That’s all that part of Genesis says, but says it by way of ancient literary constructs, almost akin to a poem or proverb. I guess some Christian denominations are taught to believe Genesis word-for-word, fig leaves and all. In my denomination, we’re not taught that. We’re taught that there are basic truths revealed to mankind from the Genesis Creation story and we must accept those truths but we are not required to accept the literary devices.
NC-
64% of Prostestant pastors would ‘strongly’ disagree with you. 64%!
Here are the results of a Harris Poll taken in 2009:
51% of Catholics, 32% of Protestants, 80% of Jews, and 16% of born-again Christians believed in Darwin’s theory of evolution, while 37% of Catholics, 56% of Protestants, 20% of Jews, and 68% of born-again Christians believed in creationism. Overall, the results were basically unchanged from 2007, when 42% of respondents believed in evolution and 39% of respondents believed in creationism. The poll was conducted on-line on November 2 and 11, 2009, among 2303 adults in the United States; figures were weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population.
http://ncse.com/news/2009/12/evolution-new-harris-poll-005232
LibDem,
Yes, I noticed that. I was a little surprised by how high of a percentage it was. But then, this is only one example of why there is not one, singular, united Christian church.
There is a lot more meat in the Genesis story theologically (such as the concept of humans being created in the image and likeness of God), but I won’t dare go into it or I might push poor John over the edge. I’m on his last nerve as it is!
What I wish we would do is teach our children to THINK, not just spoon feed them facts. Give them the tools to discern when they are being lied to or fed impossible theories. How can anyone who has learned about dinasaurs and Neanderthal Man believe that the world is 6 or 10 thousand years old? They can because they have not been taught how to think critically. They compartmentalize information, failing to connect the dots. If the world is 10k years old then dinosaurs are no older than that and if man was created within 6 days of the dinosaurs, why are there no bones of homo sapiens side by side with dinosaur bones? Perhaps their religious instructors teach that dinosaurs never existed. They are just a blasphemous lie perpetrated on the world by scientists. Okay, so then ask why would people who are trying to figure out how things work make up a lie like that? To what end? JUST to attack religions? Can you spell paranoid? At some point, a person of moderate intelligence, nevermind someone bright, is going to say, “Wait a minute. That doesn’t make any sense.” But not if s/he does not have the tools to unravel a tangle of false statements. Not if s/he has been taught to believe and accept IN LIEU OF THINKING.
Well I certainly believe we should teach children to think, but that has to be consistent with the development of their intellectual capacity, and should precede their consideration of theological issues.