Creationism

FOX Poll: 77 Percent Believe Prayer Can 'Literally Help Someone Heal From An Injury Or Illness'

Kyle Leighton | September 7, 2011, 3:42PM

Image From Shutterstock

In case anyone needed reminding, America is a deeply religious nation, and a new FOX News poll has some data to prove it. Or, prove it again.

The news network's recent national survey included a question asking if respondents "personally believe prayers can literally help someone heal from an injury or illness." 77 percent of respondents said yes, against 20 percent who did not, and a perhaps surprisingly low 3 percent that admitted they were unsure.

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Rick Perry

Did Rick Perry Turn Texas Public Schools Into Creationism Indoctrination Centers?

Brian Beutler | August 19, 2011, 2:15PM

Rick Perry

Gov. Rick Perry's claim to a child in New Hampshire Thursday that Texas public schools teach both Creationism and evolution would come as a surprise to educators and students across the country. The Supreme Court had the last word on this in the 1980s when seven justices ruled that teaching Creationism as fact violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

But Perry's precise words -- "in Texas we teach both creationism and evolution in our public schools" -- weren't exactly spoken in error. Texas biology teachers must teach evolution, can't teach Creationism, and can't teach Intelligent Design or any other forms of crypto-Creationism. But the state's curriculum does require schools to teach students to analyze and critique all scientific theories. And that means conservatives like Perry can pretend a loophole exists.

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2012 Presidential Primaries

Huntsman Dings Perry: 'Call Me Crazy' But I Believe In Evolution And Global Warming

Eric Kleefeld | August 18, 2011, 4:03PM

Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman is often regarded as too moderate a Republican to qualify for the GOP's presidential nomination -- he does, after all, support civil unions for gay couples, and served in the Obama administration as Ambassador to China. And his latest comments might not help fix that: Slamming Rick Perry's denial of global warming and non-answer on evolution.

Thursday afternoon, Huntsman tweeted:

To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.

Hmm. Huntsman is running for the Republican nomination for president, and just tweeted that comment. Maybe we can call him crazy.

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Evolution

Perry Says Texas Public Schools Teach Creationism... Which May Be In Violation Of The Constitution

Brian Beutler | August 18, 2011, 3:52PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Campaigning in New Hampshire Thursday, Texas Governor, and GOP Presidential candidate Rick Perry claimed that Texas public schools teach both evolution and creationism in their science classes.

Perry described evolution as "a theory that is out there," telling a young child questioning him that "it's got some gaps in it." That's why, he said, "in Texas we teach both creationism and evolution in our public schools. Because I figure...because I figure you're smart enough to figure out which one is right."

There's just one problem with that: in 1987 the Supreme Court ruled that teaching creationism in public schools is an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause.

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Rick Perry

Perry On Evolution: 'It's A Theory That's Out There' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 18, 2011, 3:28PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Rick Perry is sure about a lot of things. But the theory of evolution, or even how old the planet Earth is, are not on that list.

A woman who will probably not be supporting the Texas governor brought her young son along to a campaign event in New Hampshire on Thursday, and had the boy ask Perry his views about science. "How old do you think the earth is?" the boy asked. This was an apparent allusion to how fundamentalist Christians often insist that Earth -- and indeed, the whole universe -- is about 6,000 years old.

"How old do I think the earth is? You know what, I don't have any idea," Perry responded. "I know it's pretty old. So it goes back a long, long ways. I'm not sure -- I'm not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely hold the earth is.

Perry then steered the conversation to some questions the boy's mother had been asking him, about evolution.

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Sharron Angle

Defeated Senate Candidate Sharron Angle Headed To...Iowa?

Eric Kleefeld | January 25, 2011, 10:02AM

2010 Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R-NV)

Sharron Angle might have lost the 2010 Senate race in Nevada -- and thus a shot at everlasting fame if she had defeated a sitting Senate Majority Leader -- but that's not stopping her from going to Iowa, the top destination for political stars in the presidential season.

As the Des Moines Register reports, Angle is headed to an event tomorrow by the Iowa Christian Alliance Education Fund, for a movie screening.

Well, she's definitely staying involved.

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DE-SEN

O'Donnell In 1996: 'Just As Much, If Not More' Proof For Creationism Than Evolution

Eric Kleefeld | September 15, 2010, 2:31PM

Christine O'Donnell

It turns out that surprise Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell (R-DE), in addition to her long career in anti-sex and anti-masturbation activism, has also pursued another field of religious right work: Promoting creationism, and questioning the validity of science that says fossils are millions of years old.

As Dan Amira at New York magazine dug up, O'Donnell appeared in March 1996 on a CNN panel discussion with Dr. Michael McKinney, a professor of evolutionary biology from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

At one point, O'Donnell provided this definition: "Well, creationism, in essence, is believing that the world began as the Bible in Genesis says, that God created the Earth in six days, six 24-hour periods. And there is just as much, if not more, evidence supporting that."

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