Coragyps

Inside the USA, "American" means US citizen about 99.88% of the time, and the other .12% is always clarified by context somehow. In this part of Texas, "American" seems to mean "White Protestant US citizen and supporter of any policy G W Bush can think of."

Radcliffe Emerson

This link says that humans and chimpanzees evolved from a common ancestor.
And to now think, they say chimpanzees in the wild will probably go extinct. Pretty sad.

http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanor...a/primate.html

And this site,

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/li...faq/cat03.html

says humans and apes DID evolve from a common ancestor:

Could apes ever evolve into some other humanlike creature?

It is possible that in many millions of years present day apes could evolve into some other humanlike species. It is, however, very improbable. First of all, humans did not evolve from any of the species we know as apes today.

At some point 5 to 8 million years ago, the common ancestor of humans and modern apes diverged to form the two separate lineages we know today.

The species at the end of these lineages are a result of a very specific combination of selection pressures and genetic mutations over millions of years. This same combination is highly unlikely to occur ever again.

If humans evolved from apes then why are there still apes?

Humans did not evolve from present-day apes. Rather, humans and apes share a common ancestor that gave rise to both. This common ancestor, although not identical to modern apes, was almost certainly more apelike than humanlike in appearance and behavior. At some point -- scientists estimate that between 5 and 8 million years ago -- this species diverged into two distinct lineages, one of which were the hominids, or humanlike species, and the other ultimately evolved into the African great ape species living today.

Minnesota

From Coragyps' link
Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding

"The general public's ability to answer basic questions about science has hardly changed. For instance, in 2001, only about 50 percent of NSF survey respondents knew that the earliest humans did not live at the same time as dinosaurs, that it takes Earth one year to go around the Sun, that electrons are smaller than atoms, and that antibiotics do not kill viruses. However, the number answering the last item correctly rose from 40 percent in 1995 to 51 percent in 2001, an increase that may be attributable to widespread media coverage of an important public health issue, antibiotic-resistant bacteria"

Truly sad.

Mageth

If humans evolved from apes then why are there still apes?

Tell me you didn't just say that...

Worldtraveller

Yes it is. I have to question the lower education system that produces this kind of ignorance. I was born and raised in America, but I remember being taught most or all of these basic scientific concepts before about 8th grade.
Or maybe I read it on my own and I just think I remember it being taught...hmmm.
It could also be that even though children are being taught 'properly' in school, there is enough other pressure (church, parents, ignorant friends, etc.) that convince them that the teaching is wrong?
Any thoughts?

Worldtraveller

(Typo intended)

According to the abc news link, some 60% of people want creationism taught along with evolution.
My question would be, which version of creation would they like taught? My personal favorite has the Earth on the back of a big turtle....

simian

At least in the midwest, I can tell you the focus of the anti-knowledge people is to keep the children from being exposed to the important sciences in the first place. If evolution is a very minor portion of the biology being taught, and biology is considered to be "unimportant" by the community, the # of children that pick up anything meaningful can be minimized.

Think of it as tactics similar to sexual education - many areas still have none. Many of the remaining areas are fighting "abstainence only education" - and losing.

To hell with facts and reality when you have your pastor and his interpretation of the bible to back you up.

Simian

Albion

Yep, one of my first exposures to this mentality after moving to the USA was in the early 1980s when I was told by a True Christian that creationism must be true and evolution must be false because the pastor could tell you about creationism from the Bible whereas to believe in evolution you had to be able to read.:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Roller

Well, let me put my two cents...

In Croatian highschools we have four years of math, four years of physics, four years of chemistry, four years of biology, two years of logic, two of philosophy with the host of other classes.

Croatia is 90% Christian (though mostly Catholic). There is no creationist movement or nothing of the sort.

But hey, look at me. I'm studying biology in US (just started)

Dr. Retard

I know Europe is almost completely unexposed to creationism. I amuse many of my conversation students (Czech office workers, mainly) by sharing facts about Americans and creationism.

However, I did see a flier for "Evolution: Science or Religion?" on a bulletin board in the local university. Some Protestant group. I'll be alerting the Czech equivalent of CSICOP (Sisyfos).