caffeine writes:
It's also worth pointing out that there was no question simply asking if they believed evolutionary theory, as described by modern science, to be accurate. In order to express support for this theory in the survey; one also had to declare God absurd.
But people expressing support for what the survey called "theistic evolution" were also expressing acceptance of evolution. The big problem is that there are probably a broad range of interpretations of what "theistic evolution" is. Some might think it as "God put the universe in the motion and then just let things run their course." Others might think of it as, "God intervened to help evolution along," which overlaps with ID views. And the question itself (which states "evolution is the means that God used for the creation of all living things") seems to conflate evolution and the origin of life as well as being ambiguous about whether it included ID or not.
So no wonder the study thought there was some confusion, since the study helped contribute to it. The study is a nice try, but it is so difficult to clearly communicate what you're actually inquiring about when for each question you're limited to a single short sentence that I don't think it's of much value.
--Percy
™ Version 4.2
