Too many Americans live in a fantasy world

Almost 20% acknowledge evolution without the need for God’s actions, the highest ever. But 38% still think the world is 10,000 years old. They are using a model of reality that simply is not supported by any facts.

The percentage of U.S. adults who believe that God created humans in their present form at some time within the last 10,000 years or so — the strict creationist view — has reached a new low. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. adults now accept creationism, while 57% believe in some form of evolution — either God-guided or not — saying man developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life.

[More]

It is nice to see that the acknowledgment of the best model to explain how life on Earth developed is at an all time high. Sad to see that so many refuse to acknowledge facts about the world around us.

Things like tree rings that take us back more than 10,000 years. Or  varve deposits in lakes. Or layers of ice in glaciers. Jericho may be the oldest continually inhabited city, having arisen more than 10,000 years ago.

Following such faulty models indicates that some people would rather follow fantasy than reality. A society can be heavily damaged if such a large plurality of its population makes judgements based on such incorrect models.

We still have much work to do.

Image: Mlaéri