Jehovah’s Witnesses Least Likely to Accept Evolution

Life & healing after leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses…

15 September 2009

7 Comments
Author: Moxie
Tags: creation, evolution, Jehovah's Witnesses, pew study

Article republished from Livemint.com. Full credits to: Jayakrishnan Nair

In 2009, while the world is celebrating Charles Darwin’s 200th birth anniversary, US scientists have a unique challenge: to convince 60% of their countrymen that God did not create man. It might seem odd that a country, which has won the maximum number of Nobel prizes, sent a man to the moon, and has the best universities in the world, takes the antediluvian creation myth in the book of Genesis literally.

A 2009 Gallup poll revealed that only 39% of Americans believed in evolution. There were two reasons for this: education and religion. Among the high school educated, only 21% believed in evolution and 52% had no opinion; among those with a college degree, 29% did not believe and 30% had no opinion. For the religious, Darwin contradicts the word of God and those who attended church regularly were found to not believe in evolution.

To analyse the role of religion in this debate, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life asked major religious groups in the US what they thought about evolution.

The study found that at the bottom of the chart were Jehovah’s Witnesses: Only 8% of their members believed in evolution. Slightly better were Mormons (22%), Evangelical Protestants (24%), historically black Protestants (38%) and Muslims (45%). Among the Catholics and Protestants, more than 50% believed in evolution.

A major problem facing the US is that religious groups, which deny evolution are out to impose their views as science on everyone by modifying science textbooks. In 2004, 150 years after Darwin published his seminal work, the Cobb County Board of Education in Atlanta affixed a sticker on thousands of public school textbooks, which stated that evolution is a theory, not a fact. In Dover, Pennsylvania, the school board decided to teach that an “intelligent agent” created various species.

The same Pew Research poll, which found that only 8% of Jehovah’s Witnesses believed in evolution also found that 81% of Buddhists believed in evolution along with 80% of Hindus. Like the story of creation in the Book of Genesis, Hindus too have creation myths, but in India, where most American-Hindus are from, these creation myths stay in religious books, not in school textbooks. Also, there are no Hindu or Buddhist groups questioning a fact, which has been debated, analysed and tested for 150 years.

While various American Christian groups are vehemently anti-evolution, it cannot be generalized that it is a common behaviour of all Abrahamic religions; since Jews as a group stand third in ranking—after Buddhists and Hindus—with 77% believing in evolution.

The Pew religious survey found one thing in common between American Hindus, Buddhists and Jews: Members of these religions lead the religious groups in terms of education and were most likely to have a postgraduate degree. This ties with the Gallup poll, which found that 74% of Americans who had a postgraduate degree believed in evolution.

This also explains the frenetic effort among religious groups to subvert the education system. There is one more difference. In India, the syllabus is decided by the government—both state and Central— whereas in the US, local school boards have the authority to decide tests, texts and teaching materials. Thus, depending on the religious beliefs of the school board members, insane ideas can be taught and science can be redefined. To prevent this, parents have to file lawsuits or vote the school board out—both disruptive activities.

Courts in the US have found that teaching “intelligent design”, a euphemism for creationism, violates the US constitution. The creationists now are fighting for academic rights, so that educators can teach “a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions”. Fortunately, this is a fight we don’t have in India.

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Article republished from Livemint.com. Full credits to: Jayakrishnan Nair

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7 Comments »

Gilbert said:

The main culprit is the 1st Amendment, which is intrinsically flawed. It states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” The founding fathers of the US were clueless when they ratified the Bill of Rights in 1791 about the terrible monster that was religion. They didn’t make provisions to regulate it! Freedom of Religion ought to mean freedom to exercise one’s religion and not freedom of religion as an organization, in which case, you are allowing a state within a state.

So now, you have sectarian schools in the US teaching “intelligent design” as science. Religious diversity is the bane of the US. It will unseat her as a superpower.

# 16 September 2009 at 10:57 am

Felix said:

I agree Gilbert. Excellent post.

# 17 September 2009 at 9:34 pm

Lee L. said:

The reason why they didn’t make laws regulating churches was because the founders were afraid that some corrupt government officials would try to infiltrate the churches and try to use them as propaganda mouthpieces. That happens today in modern churches through grassroots political organizations, but the government itself doesn’t have a say in what goes on in the pews. Yes, it makes for idiots who don’t believe in evolution, but that’s why we have the school system to deprogram or refute anti-evolutionism from our students. The schools would do a kickass job except that the teachers themselves are illiterate and have no idea how evolution works.

The reason why people in this country don’t accept evolution as a science is because science, like other subjects itself is taught poorly in this country. “Science teachers” are usually illiterate and are easily jetted through the college ranks. If we had real science teachers, they’d easily shred through any strawman that any churchie can bring up.

# 10 January 2010 at 8:42 am

Claudia said:

you may be related to an ape and that is why you would blindly believe
the BS that one man, Darwin wrote with yet after 200 years no real
proof. The more and more science keeps proving that evolution is imposable. Even Darwin’s own comment about his ideas states and proves that he is wrong.There is no such thing as as a simple cell. He state that is need to be slow change in one one direction or he claim that he is wrong. Since that is not the case he is wrong. People like you keep trying to bend the rules to make it work and it doesn’t. I have yet to see proof of “spontaneous generation” or “punctuated evolution”. So which is it fast or slow? The reason that Christian may believe in evolution is because like me they were lied to in school and only after I look at the facts was mad as ______ that I had been tricked. By the way the teacher who was tried for teaching evolution in school lost and was fined. Also most of our founding fathers came to be free to be serve God. I and sure there are rolling over in there graves to see what has become of this nation meant to be under God. Look at the Dec. of Independence. You have right to freedom because of God.

# 8 June 2010 at 11:22 pm

Claudia said:

PS. Get past my typing skills. My thinking is just fine. I was made in Gods image. You should do some searching yourself. Or better yet, ask my creator. He talks to people he respects, and they almost always the people who respect him or are willing to listen.

# 8 June 2010 at 11:33 pm

Claudia said:

Also, evolution is a religion. It takes even more faith to believe in that story.

# 8 June 2010 at 11:37 pm