to be surprised when I find an educated person doesn't believe in evolution?

[Bennifer]

I've recently found out that someone I know doesn't believe in evolution. However, they're well educated and work in education. I really struggle to see how intelligent people cannot believe in evolution. I can see how someone might take the view that somehow God inspired the rules or the original divine spark, or something, but to deny evolution seems to be something so bizarre I can't imagine an educated person would do so.

AIBU?

As I say above, Betty I think there are opinions and beliefs that we expect to be formed in the course of a good education. To me, evolution falls into this category.

Bartlet - we're suprised! Most of us.

The Age of Enlightenment is over. We're entering a new Dark Ages...Dark Age...?

Radio 4 told me this morning.

But an educated person being able to read/not able to read isnt a belief or opinion is it..thats factual! Thats why I say its not a good comparison to make.

Ah, but cassette [grins] , you did say that (and that great), but you also said by the hand of God, which to me, as a non believer in God/Gods/spiritual beings of any kind, is a cop-out....... like people who say, ok, the earth maybe isn't 4000 years old like the bible says, but even if it is billions of years old it must have been God that made it.

You are right, it's not my business, or your business what others believe or don't believe........... except that here we are, discussing it so we have made it each others business now!

Deary me, I must be spoiling for a fight today!

I found out once a physicist colleague of mine didn't believe, now that well and truly shocked me. I've met a fair few religious colleagues, of various faiths, but only one who thought evolution was completely false.

YANBU. It would be surprising even if you yourself thought evolution to be a load of bollocks.

Until someone shows me evidence to the contrary I shall go right on believing that the earth and all the creatures on it were created by mice as part of an experiment carried out by mice.

Cassette, the thing about there being more documentary evidence of Jesus than Ceasar? That is utter balderdash even though it is balderdash that's often repeated by Christians.

We know what Ceaser looks like because there are coins that were minted while he was alive and that bear his face. There are still busts of him around. His name was carved into stone thousands of times during his own lifetime. There are histories of his campaigns that were written by Ceasar himself.

Jesus? Nothing, nothing that was written during his own lifetime and, outside of the Bible, very little that is not either a) vague enough that they could be referring to any one of the numerous prophets that were knocking about the area in that time, and/or b) shows clear signs of being added in at a later date. After all "Christ" isn't a name, it's a job title.

By the way, that thing you mentioned earlier about Darwin recanting in later life? That's bollocks too.

Been reading too much Isaac Asimov there maniacbmc ?

There are plenty of educated people who reject evolution, by educated I mean have degrees and even post-grad degrees. In the USA there are all these private universities where students can study science but through a creationist lens. These people aren't stupid, they accept so called micro-evolution, but their faith forbids them from extrapolating micro-evolution in to a bigger picture spanning millions of years.

When I was at uni I shared a house with a third year genetics student who did not believe in evolution.

I did physics with astrophysics and I have to admit that third year cosmology, particle physics lectures and general relativity didn't make a lot of sense. (Although I think it was the tensor calculus that threw me rather than any religious belief)

Been reading too much Isaac Asimov there maniacbmc ?

Douglas Adams

Too much Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

I stand by that I want evidence though. I can see and evaluate evidence for evolution. I can't see any evidence that there is a god and I'm not one for blind faith.

The good lord knew what he was about when He gave us the ability to shrug eh?

Blessed be the Lord and all his marvellous works.

It's when you meet the ones who don't believe in dinosaurs that you need to start worrying
Particularly when they have a postgrad in a scientific research based field
But that's education for you - quite possible to be educated to that level and still have massive holes in your knowledge
It's usually those educated abroad in strongly islamic or christian countries who have the strangest gaps in scientific knowledge ime (if we are talking 'educated' creationist)

There's a lot of balderdash gets written and then people who find it fits their beliefs swallow it and repeat it. Its been going on since bronze age times but the internet makes it worse.

Science on the other hand is about independently verifiable observations.

Terribly sorry all - Asimov's Jokester (from Earth Is Room Enough anthology 1957) drew a parallel between humans and rats in a maze when they discovered humour was extraterrestrials way of studying humans. Some how that got mixed in with HHGTG and the hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings that appear as mice......

I don't think its only 'gaps in knowledge' - some religious groups unfortunately feed their followers 'anti-knowledge'.

I do agree that shrugging is a very useful response in debates like this. so to declaring how completely unbothered you are over a hundred or so posts.

For did the Good Lord not also bless us with irony?

Btw what are these thousands of documents contemporaneously created during Jesus's life? Curious now.

Thousands and thousands eh? Could you do a favour to poor, woefully undereducated me and point to just three that are a) not already in the Bible, and b) were written during Jesus' lifetime? Please?