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Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 9th 09, 12:30 AM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Arizona Coin Collector
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Posts: 1,199
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

Hello

On the story below.

You can view the two pound coin from the
link below from Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Br...s_Darwin.pn g

(MORE INFORMATION)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin,_Charles

-------------

FROM:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...29&ft=1&f=1003

NPR - National Public Radio

Health & Science

Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

by Joe Palca

Weekend Edition Sunday, February 8, 2009 · This year
marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth,
and to say Darwin mania is gripping England does not
overstate the case.

The Royal Mint has created a Darwin coin, the Royal
Mail has made a Darwin stamp set, and there are
countless lectures and exhibitions throughout the
country.

Bob Bloomfield is in charge of Darwin200, a program
coordinating the celebration. He says there's even a
group of knitters paying tribute to Darwin.

"The group created artistic knitted elements which
are evocative of evolution processes," says Bloomfield.
"Similarly there's a very small group also doing quilts
which are doing a Bayeux tapestry of the Beagle voyage."

In other words, Darwin is not the controversial figure
in the United Kingdom that he continues to be in the
United States. Bloomfield says the reason for this is
science has proved Darwin right.

"Unless you want to disregard the weight of evidence,
there's not really a controversy," says Bloomfield.
"Most difficulties come from people who have a fixed
perspective on either the nature of time or either
the created nature of the natural world."

But in Britain, even those who see the hand of a
creator in the natural world don't have a problem
with Darwin. The reason is that science and religion
answer different questions, says the Right Rev. Lord
Harries of Pentregarth, a member of the House of
Lords and the former bishop of Oxford for the Church
of England.

"Science is trying to address the question, 'How do
things happen?'" says Harries. "In answer to that
you get the theory of evolution. Things happen
gradually over a very long period of time by natural
causes. But if you ask 'Why did things happen?' Then
you get a completely different answer."

It's the why of life that belongs in the spiritual
domain. Harries believes the problems some religions
have with Darwin and evolution come from a literal
interpretation of the Bible. According to Harries,
while the Bible contains profound truths, it is not
word for word true.

"First of all, take the issue of the age of the
Earth," says Harries. "Do people really think that
the universe is only 4,000 years old when every
science - chemistry, paleontology, physics,
astronomy . points to, with substantial evidence, to
the Earth being billions of years old and the universe
more than billions of years old. So you have to ask
people, do you think that the vast majority of
scientists . are liars?"

The Rev. Malcolm Brown says the Church of England
did have problems with Darwin's theory at first,
but quickly realized it was not an attack on
Christian faith. Nevertheless, by getting the first
reaction wrong, "We legitimized, to some extent,
later movements, particularly in the United States
during the early 20th century, to raise creationism
as an ideology and make Darwin a whipping boy."

The creationist ideology, now repackaged as a
theory known as intelligent design, still runs
strong in certain parts of America.

The University of Kansas in Lawrence actually has
one of the 1,250 copies that make up the first
edition of On the Origin of Species. But unlike
in England, where it seems every scrap of Darwin
memorabilia is on public display, this copy of the
first edition stays mainly in the vault.

Leonard Krishtalka is a paleontologist and head of
the natural history museum on campus. Krishtalka
knows the book, with it's notions about how life
appeared on Earth, is threatening to some people.
And even though Kansas has grabbed headlines with
its fights over teaching intelligent design as an
alternative to Darwin's theories in schools, it's
not a problem unique to Kansas.

"There are actually 34 states in the United States
that have passed anti-evolution laws of one kind
or another," says Krishtalka, "whether it's
stickers in textbooks or warnings that 'Reading
this book with be injurious to your mental health,"
whether it's California or Alabama or Louisiana.
For the record, in Kansas, the teaching of
evolution in schools never stopped because all of
the regulation and rules that the anti-evolution
segment of the Kansas City Board of Education tried
to get through were never enacted."

But the fight continues. It's not a scientific
fight. Science has already proclaimed Darwin the
winner. It's a social tug of war. A tug of war that
started 150 ago and shows no signs of abating.


...


Ads
  #2  
Old February 9th 09, 06:47 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
mazorj
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,169
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.


"Arizona Coin Collector" wrote in message
m...
Hello

On the story below.

You can view the two pound coin from the
link below from Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Br...s_Darwin.pn g

(MORE INFORMATION)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin,_Charles

-------------

FROM:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...29&ft=1&f=1003

NPR - National Public Radio

Health & Science

Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.


Someone on NPR also noted that 47% of Americans do not accept
evolution. That single factoid explains the successful marketing of
Obama dollars, Elvis quarters, ridiculously high selling prices for
mediocre coins on e-Bay, and the offers to "buy your gold for cash".
Not to mention other phenomena like jack-ass videos,
S+c+i+e+n+t+o+l+o+g+y, and the elections of 2000 and 2004.

Most people think that the TV commercial for hulu is a joke. The fact
is, the aliens have succeeded to the point where they now can openly
taunt us with the truth. ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m71m-LBqFQ



  #3  
Old February 9th 09, 08:42 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Mike Marotta
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 442
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

On Feb 9, 12:47 pm, "mazorj" wrote:
Someone on NPR also noted that 47% of Americans do not accept
evolution. That single factoid explains the successful marketing of


To set the record straight:

The Harris Poll® #52, July 6, 2005
Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by
God
A majority of U.S. adults (54%) do not think human beings developed
from earlier species, up from 46 percent in 1994.
Forty-nine percent of adults believe plants and animals have evolved
from some other species while 45 percent do not believe that.
Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a
common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we do
not).
Again divided, 46 percent of adults agree that "Darwin’s theory of
evolution is proven by fossil discoveries," while 48 percent disagree.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=581

More Americans Believe in the Devil, Hell and Angels than in Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution
Nearly 25% of Americans Believe They Were Once another Person
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – December 10, 2008 – That very large majorities of
the American public believe in God, miracles, the survival of the soul
after death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Virgin birth
will come as no great surprise.
80% of adult Americans believe in God – unchanged since the last time
we asked the question in 2005. Large majorities of the public believe
in miracles (75%), heaven (73%), angels (71%), that Jesus is God or
the Son of God (71%), the resurrection of Jesus (70%), the survival of
the soul after death (68%), hell (62%), the Virgin birth (Jesus born
of Mary (61%) and the devil (59%).
Slightly more people – but both are minorities – believe in Darwin’s
theory of evolution (47%) than in creationism (40%).
Sizeable minorities believe in ghosts (44%), UFOs (36%), witches
(31%), astrology (31%), and reincarnation (24%).
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=982

Mazorj also wrote:
Most people think that the TV commercial for hulu is a joke. The fact
is, the aliens have succeeded to the point where they now can openly
taunt us with the truth. ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m71m-LBqFQ- Hide quoted text -


Thanks for the link! Although we do have a cable feed for the
internet, we do not watch television by long habit, though to confess,
Saturday morning, when we woke up, I went looking for cartoons but
stopped at Elizabeth Taylor Richard Burton Rex Harrison Martin Landau
a cast of thousands in CLEOPATRA. We watched about 20 or 30 minutes.
Great acting, lots of pomp, but, you know how it's going to turn out,
right? Anyway, I did not watch the Superbowl. In fact in my entire
life I have not watched enough total Superbowl to make one quarter.
So, the alien invasion via television will pass me over, I am sad to
say...

BTW -- You are probably one of the few here who know that the word
"evolution" was not coined by Darwin. Moreover Herbert Specer was not
a "social Darwinist" but rather, Darwin was a "biological
Spencerian." (That and much more is hidden in books.)

To bring this about, though, it is far too easy to make fun of other
people's collecting habits -- or of collecting anything, actually. I
have repeatedly pointed out that the 1804 Dollars and 1913 Liberty
Nickels are fakes, frauds, phonies, counterfeits, but people keep
paying attention to them as if they were real, important or
interesting. That's the free market way to do things and the
alternative is a far scarier proposition than some indemic idiocy.

Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
"The king of coins has no clothes."
  #4  
Old February 9th 09, 09:29 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Bruce Remick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,391
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.


"Mike Marotta" wrote in message
...
On Feb 9, 12:47 pm, "mazorj" wrote:
Someone on NPR also noted that 47% of Americans do not accept
evolution. That single factoid explains the successful marketing of


To set the record straight:

The Harris Poll® #52, July 6, 2005
Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by
God
A majority of U.S. adults (54%) do not think human beings developed
from earlier species, up from 46 percent in 1994.
Forty-nine percent of adults believe plants and animals have evolved
from some other species while 45 percent do not believe that.
Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a
common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we do
not).
Again divided, 46 percent of adults agree that "Darwin’s theory of
evolution is proven by fossil discoveries," while 48 percent disagree.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=581

More Americans Believe in the Devil, Hell and Angels than in Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution
____________________

Makes one wonder about the level of education reached among the people
polled, and how many had to be told who Darwin was before responding to the
question.



..


  #5  
Old February 9th 09, 09:52 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Mr. Jaggers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,523
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

Bruce Remick wrote:
"Mike Marotta" wrote in message
...
On Feb 9, 12:47 pm, "mazorj" wrote:
Someone on NPR also noted that 47% of Americans do not accept
evolution. That single factoid explains the successful marketing of


To set the record straight:

The Harris Poll® #52, July 6, 2005
Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by
God
A majority of U.S. adults (54%) do not think human beings developed
from earlier species, up from 46 percent in 1994.
Forty-nine percent of adults believe plants and animals have evolved
from some other species while 45 percent do not believe that.
Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a
common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we do
not).
Again divided, 46 percent of adults agree that "Darwin's theory of
evolution is proven by fossil discoveries," while 48 percent disagree.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=581

More Americans Believe in the Devil, Hell and Angels than in Darwin's
Theory of Evolution
____________________

Makes one wonder about the level of education reached among the people
polled, and how many had to be told who Darwin was before responding
to the question.


I would venture to say that only about 1/10000 of a percent of those who do
not accept Darwin's findings have actually read his works. The other
99.9999% rely on hearsay and "special" revelation - to someone other than
themselves.

James


  #6  
Old February 9th 09, 10:10 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Leo Marx
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 98
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

Bruce Remick wrote:

"Mike Marotta" wrote in message
...
On Feb 9, 12:47 pm, "mazorj" wrote:
Someone on NPR also noted that 47% of Americans do not accept
evolution. That single factoid explains the successful marketing of


To set the record straight:

The Harris Poll® #52, July 6, 2005
Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by
God
A majority of U.S. adults (54%) do not think human beings developed
from earlier species, up from 46 percent in 1994.
Forty-nine percent of adults believe plants and animals have evolved
from some other species while 45 percent do not believe that.
Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a
common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we do
not).
Again divided, 46 percent of adults agree that "Darwin’s theory of
evolution is proven by fossil discoveries," while 48 percent disagree.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=581

More Americans Believe in the Devil, Hell and Angels than in Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution
____________________

Makes one wonder about the level of education reached among the people
polled, and how many had to be told who Darwin was before responding to the
question.

.


Our public schools are doing a very poor job at educating our children.

This is not accident.

It's much easier to exploit the ignorant than the educated.

JAM
  #7  
Old February 9th 09, 10:38 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Mr. Jaggers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,523
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

Leo Marx wrote:
Bruce Remick wrote:

"Mike Marotta" wrote in message
...
On Feb 9, 12:47 pm, "mazorj" wrote:
Someone on NPR also noted that 47% of Americans do not accept
evolution. That single factoid explains the successful marketing of


To set the record straight:

The Harris Poll #52, July 6, 2005
Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by
God
A majority of U.S. adults (54%) do not think human beings developed
from earlier species, up from 46 percent in 1994.
Forty-nine percent of adults believe plants and animals have evolved
from some other species while 45 percent do not believe that.
Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a
common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we
do not).
Again divided, 46 percent of adults agree that "Darwins theory of
evolution is proven by fossil discoveries," while 48 percent
disagree.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=581

More Americans Believe in the Devil, Hell and Angels than in Darwins
Theory of Evolution
____________________

Makes one wonder about the level of education reached among the
people polled, and how many had to be told who Darwin was before
responding to the question.

.


Our public schools are doing a very poor job at educating our
children.

This is not accident.

It's much easier to exploit the ignorant than the educated.


Kids come to school with their minds made up regarding this topic and
therefore closed. Attempts to pry those minds open are mostly futile.

James


  #8  
Old February 9th 09, 10:50 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
mazorj
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,169
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.


"Mike Marotta" wrote in message
...
On Feb 9, 12:47 pm, "mazorj" wrote:
Someone on NPR also noted that 47% of Americans do not accept
evolution. That single factoid explains the successful marketing of


To set the record straight:

The Harris Poll® #52, July 6, 2005
Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by
God
A majority of U.S. adults (54%) do not think human beings developed
from earlier species, up from 46 percent in 1994.
Forty-nine percent of adults believe plants and animals have evolved
from some other species while 45 percent do not believe that.
Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a
common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we do
not).
Again divided, 46 percent of adults agree that "Darwin’s theory of
evolution is proven by fossil discoveries," while 48 percent disagree.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=581

More Americans Believe in the Devil, Hell and Angels than in Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution
Nearly 25% of Americans Believe They Were Once another Person
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – December 10, 2008 – That very large majorities of
the American public believe in God, miracles, the survival of the soul
after death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Virgin birth
will come as no great surprise.
80% of adult Americans believe in God – unchanged since the last time
we asked the question in 2005. Large majorities of the public believe
in miracles (75%), heaven (73%), angels (71%), that Jesus is God or
the Son of God (71%), the resurrection of Jesus (70%), the survival of
the soul after death (68%), hell (62%), the Virgin birth (Jesus born
of Mary (61%) and the devil (59%).
Slightly more people – but both are minorities – believe in Darwin’s
theory of evolution (47%) than in creationism (40%).
Sizeable minorities believe in ghosts (44%), UFOs (36%), witches
(31%), astrology (31%), and reincarnation (24%).
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=982
=====================================

Scary, ain't it?

The dumbest part about rejecting evolution just because one believes
in God is that science is not incompatible with faith. As one of the
NPR guests said, to reject science because of faith is both bad
science and bad theology. I was taught that not only is the
continuing evolution of the universe and human life compatible with
faith, it speaks of a Supreme Being who operated far more
intelligently than just a tinkerer who whipped up a cosmic set-piece
diorama that requires his constant attention to correct his design and
production errors.

Mazorj also wrote:
Most people think that the TV commercial for hulu is a joke. The
fact
is, the aliens have succeeded to the point where they now can openly
taunt us with the truth. ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m71m-LBqFQ- Hide quoted text -


BTW -- You are probably one of the few here who know that the word
"evolution" was not coined by Darwin. Moreover Herbert Specer was not
a "social Darwinist" but rather, Darwin was a "biological
Spencerian." (That and much more is hidden in books.)

As with most history, the details have been sanded smooth and
forgotten over the years. I learned (or had refreshed) a few of those
details listening to the anniversary interviews. It's one of the
reasons I listen to NPR. You get a lot of background and context that
commercial broadcasting doesn't bother with.

To bring this about, though, it is far too easy to make fun of other
people's collecting habits -- or of collecting anything, actually. I
have repeatedly pointed out that the 1804 Dollars and 1913 Liberty
Nickels are fakes, frauds, phonies, counterfeits, but people keep
paying attention to them as if they were real, important or
interesting. That's the free market way to do things and the
alternative is a far scarier proposition than some indemic idiocy.

It's true that freedoms mean taking the good with the bad and
exercising enough judgment to know the difference between the two.
However, society can lawfully curtail any freedom if there are valid,
compelling reasons for doing so. So while being duped by a fraudulent
seller shouldn't be illegal, the freedom to perpetrate fraud should be
totally curtailed.


  #9  
Old February 9th 09, 11:10 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Mr. Jaggers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,523
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

mazorj wrote:
"Mike Marotta" wrote in message
...
On Feb 9, 12:47 pm, "mazorj" wrote:
Someone on NPR also noted that 47% of Americans do not accept
evolution. That single factoid explains the successful marketing of


To set the record straight:

The Harris Poll® #52, July 6, 2005
Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by
God
A majority of U.S. adults (54%) do not think human beings developed
from earlier species, up from 46 percent in 1994.
Forty-nine percent of adults believe plants and animals have evolved
from some other species while 45 percent do not believe that.
Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a
common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we do
not).
Again divided, 46 percent of adults agree that "Darwin's theory of
evolution is proven by fossil discoveries," while 48 percent disagree.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=581

More Americans Believe in the Devil, Hell and Angels than in Darwin's
Theory of Evolution
Nearly 25% of Americans Believe They Were Once another Person
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - December 10, 2008 - That very large majorities of
the American public believe in God, miracles, the survival of the soul
after death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Virgin birth
will come as no great surprise.
80% of adult Americans believe in God - unchanged since the last time
we asked the question in 2005. Large majorities of the public believe
in miracles (75%), heaven (73%), angels (71%), that Jesus is God or
the Son of God (71%), the resurrection of Jesus (70%), the survival of
the soul after death (68%), hell (62%), the Virgin birth (Jesus born
of Mary (61%) and the devil (59%).
Slightly more people - but both are minorities - believe in Darwin's
theory of evolution (47%) than in creationism (40%).
Sizeable minorities believe in ghosts (44%), UFOs (36%), witches
(31%), astrology (31%), and reincarnation (24%).
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/har...ex.asp?PID=982
=====================================

Scary, ain't it?

The dumbest part about rejecting evolution just because one believes
in God is that science is not incompatible with faith. As one of the
NPR guests said, to reject science because of faith is both bad
science and bad theology. I was taught that not only is the
continuing evolution of the universe and human life compatible with
faith, it speaks of a Supreme Being who operated far more
intelligently than just a tinkerer who whipped up a cosmic set-piece
diorama that requires his constant attention to correct his design and
production errors.


The real hard core cases against evolution are brought forth by those who
claim that God speaks directly and privately to them. In my theology, that
is blasphemy of the most damnable sort. And once the claim is made, further
discussion will not occur.

Now that this topic has been on the table a while, it will serve as a test
of Jaggers' Law: "As soon as a Usenet post is made which challenges
fundamentalism, the
probability of Scripture citation by another poster within three calendar
days approaches one."

James


  #10  
Old February 10th 09, 12:44 AM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Mike Marotta
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 442
Default Darwin, Britain's Hero, Is Still Controversial In U.S.

On Feb 9, 3:29 pm, "Bruce Remick" wrote:
Makes one wonder about the level of education reached among the people
polled, and how many had to be told who Darwin was before responding to the
question.


Bruce, that was why I went to the HARRIS POLL website. Harris,
Gallup, Pew and a couple of others are well-known for their
statistical reliability. The "level of education" can be expected to
be statistically representative of the USA. They would be
representative for age, income, gender, race, etc. etc., all the
significant variables. That's what makes Harris, Gallup, etc., worth
paying for.

If you read the print edition of USA Today, you will see that their
polls often give the sample size, margin of error and confidence
level. If I recall my stats class, you need to have 1054 samples to
be 95% confident with +/- 3% error.

I was pleasantly surprised to see all the hits when I googled
"statistics help."

Depending on where you live, you can probably take an accredited
statistics class at a community college for $350-$500. It will take
13-15 weeks of commitment, but you will know way more than everyone
else about how polling is done and the mental exercise will help stave
off senility.

Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
Statz 4 Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA98PYAKzYo

 




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