Are creationists ignorant, stupid, or both?

Question

Evolution does exist, and to say it does not shows tremendous ignorance to scientific evidence. Not only does it exist, but after a general understanding of genetics and simple reasoning, it's obvious. Not only is it obvious, but evidence in the form of fossils, comparitive anatomy, embriology, etc is overwhelming. It is "only a theory," but so is all of science, and a theory is HEAVILY BACKED explanation that has withstood time. Evolution is FACT among the scientific community, who do a poor job of communicating to the general public.

I have nothing against Christianity. But just because a book says everything was created in six days does not mean it was literally created in six days. And evolution does not oppose religion.

So my questions is why. Why do so many people (more than half of Americans) disagree with evolution, and embrace its pseudoscience alternatives - creationism and Intelligent Design? Are they stupid, or have they been poorly educated about the topic?

I do not mean to offend people of the Christian faith by any means, so please do not take it that way. However, creationism and it's cousin Intelligent Design are plaguing the minds of those who are not very educated about evolution. As a result, most people think all three ideas are equal, and should all have a place in school. This is embarassing for me as an American.

Answer 1

There are a lot of reasons. Something that no one has mentioned yet is that the philosophy of "seeing is believing" is very strong in America. People mistrust things they cannot observe very easily with their eyes and evolution just is hard to grasp for people who want to see something evolve right in front of them. On the other hand, Creation seems to make perfect sense if one looks at the world with a very superficial lens. Once people notice this, they have no need to press further.


Arguments like ID make a lot of sense to people with a little bit of knowledge of biology.


Hey al_lumb, I think the percentage of biologists and anthropologists who believe in evolution is at least 99.9%.

Answer 2

May I counter with the question, Is there an evolutionist who doesn't come across as an arrogant *know it all* prick? =P Can you try to argue your point without having to hurl insults at people whether directly or indirectly (eg creationist are stupid, ignorant, weak, retarded folk - obviously that has no validitity at all)

My answer to your question is neither. Everyone views the world through a different lense and if you thought the same way as they do, you wouldn't be in the evolutionist camp. For many, the evolutionist theory has too many holes and actually isn't fact. Evolution dictates that everything is a spawn off another a previous life form. Whether it's man from monkeys, or catepillar from worms. If you think of the evolution theory like a tree, it's nice and dandy at the leaves and the branches. You can draw similarities between species and conclude that one was derived from another via evolution. However with that theory, if you keep moving back towards the trunk, the more hokey it becomes. Are there similarities between a fish and an ape? What point then did different life forms split from plants, mammals, reptiles? And at the very root of it all, how did all these natural elements just mix to start the very first life form that started this whole chain of evolution? So far, there hasn't been any evidence of anyone mixing matter to replicate the very first life form. And even if everything all started from a mechanical reaction, that doesn't sufficiently explain things like intelligence, emotions or even the creation of DNA from the puddle of goo that would be the precursor of life.

So with that, with biodiversity shrinking (I would think evolution and flawed DNA should be leading to an increase) and all these holes, from my humble view point, there are things way beyond human comprehension and it all points to a God who created it all.

Please be respectful. Just because you don't understand why people don't agree with you does not mean they are in anyways inferior to you. Maybe try to take the time to really understand things from their view point. Can't hurt you unless you are afraid of being wrong?

Answer 3

You make some very good points. Yes, the Bible's creation story is debateable whether it is literal or metaphorical, and honestly, it doesn't matter either way. And yes, evolution does not shake the fundamental truths of Christianity.

However, I'm sorry to tell you, but evolution is far from considered a fact in the scientific community. It is still very much a theory. There are several respectable atheist or agnostic scientists that refuse to believe there is "overwhelming" evidence in support of evolution and many flat-out refute the idea, itself.

Check out my sources for yourself, but a little bit of "simple reasoning" that you may have overlooked: The evolution of the eye would require all the intricate, complex pieces be evolved SIMULTANEOUSLY. Otherwise, if it were to evolve piece by piece, it would just interpreted as unnecessary mass that requires nutrients and adaptation would get rid of it. That being said, for something like an eye to completely evolve at the same time, and FUNCTION PROPERLY, is like saying a monkey sat a typewriter and one day accidentally typed up all of Moby Dick without one typographical error.

It'll take an unreasonably long amount of time.

Add up all the different "probabilities" and you get a figure longer than the Universe is supposed to have existed. Simple reasoning.

Answer 4

I am a FORMER evolutionist. To be short, sweet, and to the point, Evolutionary theory has more holes in it than Swiss cheese.
My main problem is that the evolutionary crowd WONT ALLOW an alternative theory. That is a scientific DICTATORSHIP. Any ETHICAL scientist would be more than glad to sit down and go over the questioned data. The evolutionary crowd wont even entertain the idea that they COULD be wrong.
Riddle me this, batman: WHICH THEORY of evolution is correct? There are about as many different scientific theories out there as Christian denominations.
All of you ROCK SOLID 'scientific' evidence for evolution will be LAUGHED AT by scientists 50 years from now. You will probably be called a kook or a witch doctor.
And don't forget that in true evolution, SOMEONE is less human. Who is it? Blacks? Whites? Asians?
Remember years of dedicated scientific research conclusively proved that Jews were subhuman according to Hitler. He had some of the TOP scientists in the world, and that justified killing millions in the gas chambers. Hitler said he was 'just helping nature along', by wasting the Jews.
The first Pygmy found in Africa was touted as the 'missing link' by scientists of the day and ended up at the APE Exhibit in the New York zoo. He killed himself.
Aborigines were also thought to be the missing link.
Slavery of the blacks was bolstered because they 'didn't have a soul'. Our hero Charlie Darwin can be thanked for that.
I have seen AT LEAST a dozen hoaxes that made front page news as new scientific 'proof' before it was exposed.
Evolution is a faith based belief system, nothing more.
But I do admire the faith of an evolutionist. you believe something came from nothing. I just cant believe that.
4.5 billion years of evolution will get you a jar of pond scum, NOT sentient beings.
Remember, evolution is a 'MIRACLE' of over 40 TRILLION random chance events. I do admire your faith....

Answer 5

Ignorant, and I mean that without the traditional negative connotation that's attached to it. More like 'unaware', although that's not quite right either.

What does the average American know about science, or for that matter, any topic? Half-remembered stuff from high school, discovery channel specials, urban legends, and movies. The theory of gravity isn't all that relevant as a unifying theory; all you really need to know is 'stuff falls'.

I'd wager that a properly motivated charlatan could convince more than half of Americans that gravity is motivated by acrophobia; that objects as well as people are afraid of heights. But no one's figured out how to make a buck or curry favor with a deity by denying gravity. So the Kent Hovinds of the world fire away at evolution.

Answer 6

Pure proof that if you tell a lie loud enough, by the right people, for a long enough time, most everyone will believe it.
Now if some Creationists claim the earth is 6,000 years old, it is kind of foolish.
However, there is plenty of evidence that modern man and the world as we know it today could have settled around 6,000 years ago.
But I don't know any Creationists who say that. Nowhere in the Bible does it say just how old the earth is, but there's proof that the Bible was accurate long before "science" caught up to it.
Away back most all scientists believed the earth was flat. But the Bible declares in the book of Psalms, written over 3,000 years ago: "The Lord is He Who sits on the Circle of the Earth."
If you examine the Hebrew word used there for "circle", it actually means "sphere". So the Bible, or the scrolls of the psalms at that time, were correct 2,500 years before "scientists" found out the earth was round.
Same with today. If you refuse to examine the evidence of Creation, you are narrow-minded and stupid.
I spent my younger years studying evolution, and I found it to be only a bare "theory" at best. It takes way too much "faith" to believe all the complicated life forms just "happened" by accident.
The chances against that are so tremendous it's almost impossible to measure.

Answer 7

having studied biology in high school and college, I actually do not believe in evolution. All supposed proof is falsely presented with what I've seen, there are no transitional fossils at all. The "missing link" is still missing supposedly, I believe its missing because it doesn't exist. I have tried to figure things out, but evolution just does no make sense.

So I must say that creationist are not ignorant, or stupid, but are more than likely enlightened. Their eyes can see the truth in the lies that are being presented.

Answer 8

1. Bad teachers (blind leading the blind)
2. Sheep mentality
3. Stubbornness
4. Evil spirit wanting to create disunity.
5. (Or if you don't believe in evil spirits, then this ought to prove it)
6. Laziness/complacency
7. The misplaced affection for someone, no matter how eccentric they may be.
8. Reading the Holy Bible as if it were a novel, and thinking whatever thoughts come into your head are God's thoughts, and no one else's. (as if you can never be duped)

Answer 9

Before St Paul's conversion to Christianity, he said I persecuted the church of GOD because of ignorance and unbelief. Similarly, evolutionist out of ignorance and unbelief are against GOD's creation of men. However, the actual creation of man was seen in a vision by the Prophet Daniel (7:4) saying And its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up above the ground; and it was made to stand on its two feet like a man; and a man's heart was given to it. Thus, this one sentence is a 5 million- year of evolution. It first showed the dinosaurs made extinct by GOD as symbolized by the wings were plucked off where wings is of power; and the small mammals survived the catastrophe. These small mammals then inhabited the thick canopies of the forested areas and they were the arboreal acrobats monkeys--as they were lifted up above the ground by GOD; then these monkeys in approx 3 million years walked the savannahs of ethiopia Africa were leopards, tigers, lions, predators prowled the land. And these monkeys without trees to climb and surviving this threatening new environment from various predators developed the balancing hip muscles and stood erect as an apeman--as GOD made it to stand on its two feet like a man. After 2 million years the apeman eating no longer vegetables but were forced to eat meat from small animals like rats and rabbits, the proteinous food caused the brains of the apemen to expand and became the homosapiens-thus GOD giving the apeman the heart of a man. In this vision of the Prophet Daniel, he actually saw the stages of man's evolution therefore, evolution is merely the physical instrument of GOD to implement HIS will.

Answer 10

You can't say that people who believe in creationism are stupid or ignorant; they just don't believe in evolution. Many people who have extensive knowledge of evolution don't believe in it just because the arguments favoring evolution haven't convinced them otherwise. Some arguments favoring creationism say that God had to have a hand in it because of the extremely complex process the human body undergoes just because of a simple cut. They say in no way can random incidences in nature ever develop into that complex and precise process. I believe 100% in evolution, but those who fancy creationism aren't necessarily uneducated dolts.