DU-A this poll

[Az]

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/219/story_21921_1.html

On the right. Re evolution. Gotta look at a pic of Ken Ham to do it. But its worth it.

[salvorhardin]

1. Encouraging so far

78%, Evolution true, no god needed
13%, Evolution true, god initiated and/or directed
9%, Goddidit

Way out of line with what Americans generally say. Quoting my own site:

If we then add the Creationist and Intelligent Design responses together we get a very bleak picture. Some 92% (greater than nine out of ten) of Republicans and about 77% each (almost eight out of ten) of Democrats and Indpendents believe in either Creationism or Intelligent Design.
http://neuralgourmet.com/2008/06/29/ignorance-nonpartisan

[ZombieHorde]

2. Done.

The universe was created in six days as described in Genesis.
8%
Evolution is true, but God began and/or directs it.
10%
Evolution is true, and religion has nothing to do with it.
82%

[skepticscott]

3. Getting better

Up to 85% for rationality. But Ham does, in his own whacked-out way, have a point. If you don't accept the entire Bible as literally true, you have no factual basis for choosing what parts to believe and what parts not to. A lot of people who consider themselves more moderate or liberal Christians say that Biblical literalism is silly and that they don't accept it, but when asked how they rationally decide what parts of the Bible THEY accept as true and why that's a basis for their religion, they never have a good answer.

[Az]

4. The problem is that their faith and religion form a significant part of their lives

Its their foundation often. And while they embrace reason and rational thought their emotional foundation is found in their religion. It takes quite a bit to break free of that. Till then they live in a state of compartmentalized segregation. They simply do not allow their various positions to intermix. To do so would trigger a rather unpleasant emotional reaction. The conflict in their mind would tear at the various things they hold to be true until equilibrium is found again or one side or the other is expelled. For most people the uneasy equilibrium is by far the preferred position. Thus they do not push through with either reason or faith to one side or the other.

I find the full on fundamentalists to be more integrated in their mind. That is they have a cohesive world view. The fact that its utterly wrong doesn't really matter to their brain as long as its functional. The fundamentalist doesn't have to do all sorts of internal twisting and turning to deal with contradictory positions. While the more rational theist has to do acrobatics in their own mind to keep from tripping themselves up.

I dread the kind of fundie I would be if I actually bought into the bible. I mean if you believe the dang book it would seem to make sense to follow it as closely as you can. But so many seem to find balance between reality and the functionality of their faith.