[extropy-chat] Enlightenment and the election

[Fred C. Moulton]

On Fri, 2004-11-05 at 19:56, Greg Burch wrote:
>But I can't go on without registering that things like this article
>are part of the problem.  It's hysterical nonsense from people who
>live entirely encased in a cultural bubble that includes zero contact
>with anyone with whom they disagree.
 
As I said in my original post I doubted if anyone would agree with the
article in its entirety so lets look at some specific items in the
article:
 
Item:
 "Mr. Rove understands what surveys have shown, that many more Americans
  believe in the Virgin Birth than in Darwin's theory of evolution."
There seem to be several polls around that ask different parts of this
question but part of the basis of this seems to be the 1998 Harris poll:
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=167
which shows 83% of adult Americans believe in the virgin birth.
There is also the Catholic World News online article
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=8294
which refers to the work of a University of Cincinnati professor that
has "theistic" evolution at 40% and pure Darwinian evolution at 10%.
See also the CNN column by Nicholas D. Kristof
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/15/nyt.kristof/
So based on the information I have found Garry Wills was not spouting
hysterical nonsense but on the contrary seems to be correct.
 
Next item:
  "But they came roaring back into the arena out of anger at other court
  decisions - on prayer in school, abortion, protection of the flag and,
  now, gay marriage."
 
If you do a Google search for
"+political +activism +conservative +christian +cause"
In the first 20 links you get an article referring to the 30 year
career of Donald E. Wildmon.
http://www.theocracywatch.org/rallying_cry_times.htm
And this political resource guide for the religious right
http://www.peterlaitres.net/politics.htm
I could provide more links but this is I think sufficient to demonstrate
that the statement by Wills is not hysterical nonsense.
  
Next item:
  "Respect for evidence seems not to pertain any more, when
  a poll taken just before the elections showed that 75 percent of Mr.
  Bush's supporters believe Iraq either worked closely with Al Qaeda or
  was directly involved in the attacks of 9/11."
I could not find a poll that had exactly the same numbers as Wills
sited.
What I found was Oct 21, 2004 Harris Poll
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=508
which lists Bush supporters as believing:
 - Saddam Husein had strong links with Al Qaeda  84%
 - Saddam Hussein helped plan and support the hijackers who attacked
   the U.S. on September 11, 2001  52%
 - Several of the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11
   were Iraqis 40%
So based on this I would say that the numbers sited by Wills are at
least in the ball park and not hysterical nonsense.
 
So on the specifics I have examined Wills does not seems to be spouting
hysterical nonsense.  If you wish to restate your comment to say that
only part of what Garry Wills wrote was hysterical nonsense then you may
do so.  However if you do claim that only part of the article Wills
wrote is hysterical nonsense please provide specific citations and
supporting references.
 
Fred