Matthew-
On Thu, 30 Oct 2003, Poor, Edmund W wrote:
For the 45% of Americans who are Creationists
Off topic, but is it really this high? I'd heard lower. I guess like all surveys and statistics, it depends how you ask the question and how you work the data ...
About 50% of Americans believe in Extrasensory Perception, about 42% in haunted houses (58% among 18-29 year-olds), and about 36% in telepathy:
http://home.sandiego.edu/~baber/logic/gallup.html
Education in the US isn't exactly top-notch, and Hollywood movies do their part to shape perception. In comparison, similar beliefs are far less wide-spread in western Europe. In Germany, for example, only 8% believe in ghosts (3% in Eastern Germany), and only slightly more than half believe in God. Those who believe in God also accord him some role in the evolutionary process, but the creationism/evolution controversy is largely an American phenomenon.
Regards,
Erik