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Re: [Phys-l] Richard Dawkins Answers Reddit Questions



According to one website the groups that believe biblical inerrancy:
"You're probably thinking of Evangelicals, Fundamentalists and Pentecostals.
All total, they make up about 60% of the US Christian population. They all
make up some 10% of the Christian population world wide."

Some surveys show that around 50% of respondents say they don't believe in
evolution. But of course the answer varies with how the question is posed.

According to the Wikipedia "Evangelicals":
"The 2004 survey of religion and politics in the United States identified
the evangelical percentage of the population at 26.3 percent while Roman
Catholics are 22 percent and mainline Protestants make up 16 percent."

So the actual influence and percentages of "fundamentalists" in the US is
fairly large, especially in the South. The article on Evangelicalism in the
Wikipedia has a lot of information about them. They have controlled the TX
state school board, and the TX Governor. But the worst of the school board
were defeated in the Rep. primaries. So it remains to be seen what the new
members will do. I suspect they may be worse.

The Wikipedia article on "Objections to evolution":
"One poll reported in the journal Nature showed that among American
scientists (across various disciplines), about 40 percent believe in both
evolution and an active deity (theistic evolution).[182] This is similar to
the results reported for surveys of the general American public." This
article is a good read if you are put into the position of having to defend
evolution. It also reveals how some very well schooled, but uneducated
people have attacked evolution as causing all the ills of modern society.
At one time dime novels, comic books, radio, movies, TV have all come in for
their share of blame, but the abuse heaped on evolution tops them all.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


While Fundamentalist Christians may be plentiful in some areas of the US,
they remain a tiny minority of Christians in general, much less religious
believers, much less people in the US. I think it's easy to overlook
that.