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 Survey: U.S. Protestant pastors reject evolution, split on Earth's ageBy Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor America’s Protestant pastors overwhelmingly reject the theory of evolution and are evenly split on whether the earth is 6,000 years old, according to a survey released Monday by the Southern Baptist Convention. When asked if “God used evolution to create people," 73% of pastors disagreed - 64% said they strongly disagreed - compared to 12% who said they agree. Asked whether the earth is approximately 6,000 years old, 46% agreed, compared to 43% who disagreed. A movement called Young Earth creationism promotes the 6,000-year-old figure, arguing that it is rooted in the Bible. Scientists say the earth is about 4.5 billion years old. The Southern Baptist Convention survey, which queried 1,000 American Protestant pastors, also found that 74% believe the biblical Adam and Eve were literal people. “Recently discussions have pointed to doubts about a literal Adam and Eve, the age of the earth and other origin issues," said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, a division of the Southern Baptist Convention, in a report on LifeWay’s site. “But Protestant pastors are overwhelmingly Creationists and believe in a literal Adam and Eve.” The phone survey was conducted in May 2011, sampling ministers from randomly selected Protestant churches. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent, LifeWay said. A 2010 Gallup poll found that 40% of Americans believe God created humans in their present form, versus 54% who said humans developed over millions of years. soundoff (6,499 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 Next »Post a comment
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi, with daily contributions from CNN's worldwide newsgathering team and frequent posts from religion scholar and author Stephen Prothero.  |
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“God” was not needed to create the universe; rather, all that is needed are the "laws of nature." – Stephen Hawking
Stephen who???? Is he in the Bible? Perform any miracles? Die for our sins? Anything of worth?
CreatedbyGod – Your book was written by men. It’s a historical fact. And referring to it to prove that it is accurate is a circular argument, and it therefore holds no water.
There is very little of worth in the bible. The creation myths there are absurd, and the violence it describes and prescribes is horrid.
AbraCadabra things appeared out of thin air. Steven Hawkins theories dont hold water. Their has to be a intelligence to orchrestrate anything and everything.
so if i didnt come from a monkey, where did i come from? lets here the STUPID THEORIES. Come on I know some of you are about to display STUPIDITY ON BLISS.
@Jackdaw U.S. history was written by man will you dismiss it.
@Jackdaw World history is written by man shall we dimiss it.
@Jackdaw lets dismiss world history, the holocaust never happened, slavery never happened, lets dimiss it all and live in your pathetic little world were history is no history, that nothing is what it is, it's all made up fairytales, myths, hoodoo, voodoo, the world appeared because of a magic wand, that we exsist to exsist no purpose, no meaning, no mission, that we are only God for ourselves. That life is this blank universe of no meaning, yes JACKDUNG we know your kind miserable little whiteman , always complaining, never happy, and a angry SOB, that you are. Take your science of fairytales of humanistic lies and cram them up your A S S.
Same poll found that 7 out of 10 pastors do not have the capacity to think for themselves. I think evolution can fit in with religion. Why must you believe one or the other.
Because religious people think in absolutes. Black and white. Just like the Sith.
the next time a loved one is stricken with a disease or critically injured lets see evolution evolve them to health or better yet ask Steven Hawkins to heal them.
Yepyep6598 – Call your God and see if he fixes your sick relative. I'll trust in medical science instead of ritual hokum. I'm glad that you have a clear understanding of evolution. Try reading a scientific journal before you spread your ignorant prattle.
i didnt come from a monkey
no one is saying you did. now, put down the banana and back away slowly
... you came from an ass !
No, you didn't. You came from an APE.
Evolution does occur. That is a fact. Whether or not it took 4.5 billion years and occurred through the exact mechanisms and processes that scientists propose is a different argument. We cannot, nor shall we ever be able to prove exactly the origins of life, just as we cannot nor shall we ever be able to prove or disprove the existence of God.
At least there is evidence for the former as there is bugger-all for the latter.
A sensible comment.
we know how it began, you fools refuse to believe it
I just don't believe this. People in mainline Protestant churches and their ministers have no problem with evolution. My guess is that the Southern Baptist Convention limited their poll to Southern Baptists and other conservative and fundamentalist churches. People in more liberal Protestant churches get really tired of the public assuming we opposed to or don't accept evolution.
Mag – I certainly hope you are right. Otherwise it is too scary to contemplate. How can presumably intelligent, worldly, experienced people believe that the story of Adam and Eve is true?
I'm confused. Do you believe the Bible or not? You dont have to read far to see it clearly states God CREATED man. Get on one side of the fence or the other. Dont be lukewarn... if you do read the Bible, you know what God says about that.
Beadles... the same way you can believe that people evolved out of the ocean into tadpoles then fish then grew legs started crawling then walking and finally talking.
Albert Einstein, who is often falsely characterized as having been an atheist, once said of non-believers: "The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who - in their grudge against traditional religion as the 'opium of the masses' - cannot hear the music of the spheres."
" It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. " Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein also said that in the view of a Jesuit Priest he is, and always had been, an atheist. Einstein certainly thought that the idea of a personal god, like the christian god, was absurd.
Although there is no evidence that, in life, Albert Einstein accepted the lordship of Jesus Christ, when asked if he believed in Jesus the historical figure, he responded: "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."
Thanks, Primewonk. Important quote. The spindoctors of religion will grasp at anything any scientist says that might support the idiocies of religion, and that quote really helps in dealing with that. I think it just shows the desperation of the religious as their dogma becomes increasingly marginalized.
Einstein is God?
I believe in evolution. I also believe in a God. But, I really don't understand how you can believe in the Bible literally when even the Church admits that it was edited and changed over the centuries. Large parts were taken out or changed to suit the Churches agenda.
Keep studying and you'll probably get over the god thing. The god characteristics described in the bible really are nonsense, and don't fit any reasonable worldview.
I'm with you. I just square away this one glaring thing–dinosaurs. That's why haven't drank the koolaide from either bowl.
I'm with you. I just can't square away this one glaring thing–dinosaurs. That's why I haven't drank the koolaide from either bowl.
so was history when it came to slavery in the U.S. some say only a 10,000 slaves were brought to the U.S. others say a million what difference does it make. if we found out there were only 5,000 would that change the fact that there was slavery in the U.S. ? So your arguemet is weak.
Ignorance is a disease that spreads through rejection of the facts. Evolution is a proven fact so deal with it.
Actually, a scientific law is a proven fact...a scientific theory is still in the proving process. The Theory of Evolution is a scientific theory which has not been proven to the point that it can be considered a scientific law. Having said that, I believe that evolution is a viable scientific explaination for the changes in biological lifeforms...including human beings. I say this and I am a pastor. I also beleive that evolution is a part of what we understand as natural law, which is what God created millions and millions of years back when God created our existence...that is, God created order form chaos...something from nothing.
@Jhonny what does the 5 stand for your IQ you certainly didnt evolved you have just enough intellegence to keep your vital organs functioning and that in itself is becoming a problem.
And so it goes... ignorance multiplies, and intelligence declines.
The name Bob is always associated with trailer trash and meth I wonder if your mother used drugs when she conceived you by that unknown father.
Like you Vollydan?
7 in 10 preachers are uneducated morons who hide their hend in the sandy floors of their churches.
Amen brother
You might want to Wiki "catholic priests" and scroll down to education requirements (in the US).
I'm guessing that 90% of catholic priests in the US are more intelligent than you and most others in this thread.
Yes, Wikipedia. I'm willing to bet that you quoted it often in your doctoral thesis.
I'll pick up a science journal when you give me 10 Hail Marys and 10 I Fathers. Your sins are forgiven
Well this just comfirms what the vast majority of people, including myself, believe about the 73% of Protestant Pastors, led by the Southern Baptist Convention. The comfirmation of ignorance is not a new phenomenon on this planet, nor will it be the last. It is a wonder though that so many millions of people will actually follow and believe this nonsense. Yikes!
So who's more stupid- the pastors, or the millions of sheep who blindly follow them and refuse to use thier brains?
I vote for the internet tough guys who waste their time posting on message boards for the sole purpose of insulting the beliefs of others.
Your beliefs should be insulted. They are a blight upon humanity.
If you still believe in a 6,000 year old earth and think evolution doesn't happen, you deserve to be insulted, stupid.
Last I checked, you don't know what my beliefs are. You're just making assumptions – which doesn't give you a ton of credibility.
Evolution isnt a "belief" any more than the "belief" that the world is flat. It isnt. No matter how many times you say it is, it will indeed remain round. Evolution isnt a belief. Its a fact. We can observe it happening.And the evidence is simply overwhelming. The evidence for creationism is, well, ZERO.
volleydan, what part of the long word "if" did your weak brain not understand?
Tough Guys? You are reading the posts, you have posted yourself right? Being a "tough guy" has nothing to do with it unless you plan to hurt me for expressing myself.
@Jim I am betting the one who carried you for nine months
@Jim Oops! forgot you evolved outside the womb
@Jim Oops! forgot you evolved outside the womb from a swamp
To paraphrase the Bible: 'They have eyes, but do not see...and ears that......etc' While other nations seek scientific truths, this country builds Mega churches so evangelical egotists can spout illiterate ramblings that are destroying the very fabric of mankind. Goes to show that tools do not a carpenter make, nor a Bible a teacher of truth.
Another problem is that the bible simply isn't a reliable place to look for truth. It contadicts itself, and lends itself too easily to multiple interpretations. You can argue about the contradictions all you want, but the multi-interpretation case is hardly debatable and makes the common Christian claims for the bible being a divine or divinely-inspired work simply ludicrous.
*contradicts*
If you don't believe in evolution, don't get a flu shot every year.
HANDS DOWN BEST LINE OF ALL THE POSTS
Your stupidity is on display
In all fairness to the clergy, if they did not believe their own nonsense, they would be in the wrong job.
we used to think the earth was flat, come on peopl and that was only a few hundred years ago, Yes we evolve, we travel to space now and soon will live on other planets. Does religion talk about that? no because it was made up when the human race was as smart as a box elder bug. Romans had gods for everything and look how dumb that looks now. Why are records always being broken? If we did not evolve in to smarter, faster, bigger and stronger humans, records would not be broken. Face the facts people, people 100 years from now will think we were pretty dumb as a species, and then 100 y ears from then they will look back and say, what a bunch of idiots they were, they did not know how to comunicate and travel between planets.
007, the scientists of the time said the world was flat (and were wrong). People 100 years from now will think were were stupid, technologically speaking but TRUE Christians will remain the same... yesterday today and tomorrow as we say!
Rick, you are right. Scientists will update their thinking based on new evidence. Fundamentalists will stubbornly ignore reality until the day they die.
There really isn't much evidence that belief in a flat earth was ever common, let alone widespread. Acceptance of a spherical earth dates back many centuries BC, and even a good approximation of its size was available. The use of a belief in a flat earth as an epithet seems to stem from a story by Washington Irving in the 1800s. I'd suggest finding another metaphor, because this one relies on a metaphor itself.
What's scary is people like you teaching in our schools. Judeo-Christian beliefs have been here longer than all others, which waned and whithered away with time. There are things happening in the world that are not explainable by science, and physical realm is only part of the equation. It's pretty shortsighted to only believe what's pushed to you by weak minded people in modern society.... There is waaaaay more to faith than what ill-informed atheists or modern liberal protestants say. For example, there were millions of people tortured for their faith in China and USSR, with by far majority of them choosing death over denoucing their Savior. Atheism is probably out there among largest killers of humanity on the planet.
IF we evolved from apes. Why are there still apes?
Man did not evolve from apes. Apes and man evolved along similiar lines. Your argument is like saying you evolved from your second cousin.
mmmmmmm.....because we didn't?
Hmmm... even the "missing link" people have a better understanding of evolutionary theory than that. Your question SHOULD be: If apes and humans have a shared common ancestor from which they evolved why haven't we found evidence of such a species, which would demonstrate similarities to both?
Then evolutionists could actually point you to some useful articles and findings that demonstrate some of the resent archeological finds that do bridge some of the gaps.
There are STILL apes, and half a dozen or so are running for president on the GOP ticket.
if i came from my great great grandfather, then why are my cousins still here? your argument is tired and ignorant.
Are you really that stupid ?? The fact that ANYONE does not follow and trust in evolution just shows how weak and frail religion has made people.. You'd rather believe there is an invisible man that lives in the sky that trust that man came from apes. Truly unbelievable.. shame on you for showing your stupidity...
HANDS DOWN THE MOST STUPID POST OF THEM ALL
Look at this way.....all dogs evolved from a common ancestor....yet the great Dane barely resembles a Pekingese.
If we evolved from Europeans, why are the still Europeans?
Humans did not evolve from apes. Apes and humans evolved from a common primate ancestor.
Because we didn't evolve from apes – apes and humans had a common ancestor – millions of years ago. This is basic, basic science – that's the problem – even the basics of evolution theory seem to escape many people.
I think you need to evolve. The theory of evolution does not claim we evolved from apes, rather apes and humans evolved differently from a common evolutionary ancestor!
For the same reason that there are still Catholics, despite the recent emergence of Protestants.
Great question. Go back in time, about 6 million years ago, and you'll find that humans and modern apes (chimps, gorillas, orangutangs, bonobos) had a common ancestor. Six million years is a long time. If you were to look at our ancient ancestor you might think it looked chimp-like but it could walk upright like we do.
At first that can sound pretty far fetched until you consider how living things can change in a short span of time. Look at dogs for example. A Chihuaha and a Great Dane are both dogs. If you traced their lineage far enough, you'd see that they have a common wolf-like ancestor.
All life on Earth shares a common thread: DNA. All life evolved from simpler life forms. Consider Legos. By themselves Lego pieces are just blocks, but when you connect them they can make all kinds of shapes. The same is true of our DNA. It took millions of years of those bits of DNA floating in the oceans to form life. We're the byproduct of those building blocks, as is all life on Earth.
Dash – evolution doesn't proceed from the simple toward the complex; it is directionless. There are many examples of more complex organisms evolving into a simpler form; this is very common among parasites. All that matters is whether a feature gives rise to differential reproductive success; more complicated or simpler, it will tend to rise in frequency if it gives rise to greater success.
We didn't evolve from apes. Humans are apes. We share a common ancestor with other hominoids. Was anyone awake in biology or anthropology class?
Potland... thats not evolution. They are all still dogs. Its from breeding and cross breeding that dogs have different traits and appearance. Not Evolution. An Evolutionist would say the Great Dane evolved from a rat or a fish or something like that.
People people people....
How could man from the bronze age possibly know about the age of the Earth or the creation of man. They believed in things because they had no science and no way to find out the truth. After modern science came into being and through countless people's work, we know now that the Earth is more than 4000 years old and that the Earth is not the center of the Universe. The existence of God will never be proven or disproven, but there was no way that man back then got it right. We cant even get things right now, with science, because (and this is where the cynical part of me comes out) the evil hearts of men. They crave for power and control over others. Its sad, but thats the way things are.
Thank you, someone with common sense!!!
Sounds right, only maybe they should have surveyed pastors other than Southern Baptists.