How do people STILL not accept evolution?

[yodachoda]

IMO, molecular biology (looking at DNA) and the fossils uncovered within the past 50 years basically confirm evolution as true.  Yet many people, including my own parents!, don't believe in evolution.  It's over 50% here in the USA.  How do these people explain these things:

1.  Chimps live in Africa.  Chimps share the closest common ancestor with us humans.  In mostly africa alone, there are fossils that start off chimp like.  Then, as time progresses, they get slightly more human like.  We can carbon date them to find when they were fossilized.  Finally, fossils get close to looking like modern humans (the most recent fossils) and some of them are found in Europe and Asia.  Also, their skullcase size gradually increases with time to modern human brain size. 

2.  Humans have 46 chromosomes.  Chimps have 48.  All chromosomes, normally, have exactly two telomeres on their ends.  All 48 chimp chromosomes have exactly two telomeres on their ends.  For one set of human's chromosomes, chromosome 2, there are actually telomeres on the ends and remnants of them in the middle.  This is exactly what you'd expect if two chimp chromosomes fused to form one chromosome.  If God exists, why would he put telomeres in the middle of human chromosome #2 for absolutely no reason? 

3.  ~60% of human DNA is non-coding.  There are many sequences that are just random junk, coming along for the ride with the rest of the important genome that encodes things hair type.  If God exists, why would he randomly add extra DNA that does nothing? 

[yodachoda]

Another one: 

4.  Whales have small pelvic bones towards their rear, remnants of legs.  If whales were designed, why on earth would a designer put little worthless leg bones in a whale that serve no purpose?  If, on the other hand, evolution is true and whales evolved from land mammals, then these small pelvic bones are exactly what you'd expect. 

[Traveler]

Apparently god sprinkled a bunch of bones around the planet as a joke. Ha ha. Either that or Satan is messing with us. And carbon dating is another joke. It's just a fake, like humans landing on the moon. And of course the earth really is flat. All those people who have traveled around the world merely turned around at Australia and snuck around the edge to come back the other way.

In other words, I have no clue how anyone can be so completely and utterly ignorant of reality.

[Firebird]

You can throw as much empirical evidence at people as you possibly could, and their eyes will just glaze over because it's all too complicated for them to think about. God is just so much simpler.
That's why

[Tank]

Lack of credulity.
Upbringing.
Poor education.
Social/cultural/peer pressure.
Emotional attachment to a particular mythology.

[Tank]

You can throw as much empirical evidence at people as you possibly could, and their eyes will just glaze over because it's all too complicated for them to think about. God is just so much simpler.
That's why

This as well. Humans are evolved so as children they accept authority without question. Some people never get out of this stage.

[MariaEvri]

How do people STILL not accept evolution?

if you grow up and never open a science book in your life (except the shitty ones at school) then you will end up believing that evolution means an ape giving birth to a human

[Guardian85]

How do people STILL not accept evolution?

if you grow up and never open a science book in your life (except the shitty ones at school) then you will end up believing that evolution means an ape giving birth to a human

Shows the value of good public education, that. If I were a boss I would be very sceptical of hiring someone who was home schooled.

[Whitney]

If I were a boss I would be very sceptical of hiring someone who was home schooled.

I wouldn't go that far.  There are a number of parents who home school their children secularly because the public school options are crap and the private schools are too expensive.  I think there would be more secular parents homeschooling if it were not for the fact that secular women are more likely to have professional careers that prevent their being able to stay home to teach...whereas fundamentalist religious people (esp the most fundamentalist) tend to view the woman's job as being the traditional stay home, raise babies, cook and clean.  And I mention moms since stay at home dads are still not that common other than in cases of unemployment.

Plus, if they haven't had any education past homeschooling then you probably aren't hiring them for a job that requires much thinking anyway; there aren't many jobs left out there that are mentally demanding yet only require a high school diploma or equivalent.

[Guardian85]

Ok, you're right. But you know what I meant!

[MadBomr101]

Apparently god sprinkled a bunch of bones around the planet as a joke. Ha ha. Either that or Satan is messing with us. And carbon dating is another joke. It's just a fake, like humans landing on the moon. And of course the earth really is flat. All those people who have traveled around the world merely turned around at Australia and snuck around the edge to come back the other way.

In other words, I have no clue how anyone can be so completely and utterly ignorant of reality.

Religion...it's a potent hallucinogen.

[DeterminedJuliet]

The nice thing about not wanting your beliefs to be challenged is that you are not required to keep on literature which conflicts with your beliefs.

The Bible, you see, it rarely changes. Evidence, that stuff is changing ALL.THE.TIME.
It's exhausting!

[The Magic Pudding]

Religion...it's a potent hallucinogen.

A bad trip I'd say.
It seeks to make the good stuff bad.
I want the good to seem wonderful.
I'm surprised anyone buys it.
There's better stuff available and it's cheaper.
No wonder they try to ban it.

[pytheas]

~60% of human DNA is non-coding.  There are many sequences that are just random junk, coming along for the ride with the rest of the important genome that encodes things hair type.  If God exists, why would he randomly add extra DNA that does nothing? 

my conjecture is that you can modify your biology via affectional repertoires (emotion,stress eg) acting neuroimmunally and altering microRNA gene silencing levels, spread , intensity, that put the ball of free will capacity back on the court with a vengeance. We cannot say, "..does nothing"
So we said of the appendix but we were wrong. A lot of te junk, isn;t junk at all. There is reason to expect no junk as all per se. Redundanciesmay becomes another wrestle match between free will, and homo sapiens natural(what is left of it)  selection 

your question is:

when do people stop learning or choose to ignore/forget their eyes

[pytheas]

Religion...it's a potent hallucinogen.

A bad trip I'd say.

Religion is used as  painkiller. "Opium of the people" is consistent with allah in poor egyptian minds(before the uprise)
Academically and cold-heartedly and surgically desicively, religion itself as a notion is a joke, a corny headfuck

however, I should point out that in a shamanic, deeply humble from Crushing Natural Chemistry mindset, the use of proper hallucinogens with the risk of a bad trip, validated (and still do) the religious appeal coined to healing or development.

the conversion of russian embassador comitee  to orthodoxy in the spectacular "cathedral of wisdom" agia sophia in the early middle ages, included heavy whiffs of essence burning enough to fill the space, we looking at 1000 trees for the night ceremony


I shouldnt say this, but if church picked up this fact, together with the human drive for recreative intoxication and its link to central power leverage, we would be in a harder spot...

bad trip involves
a) the uninformed ignoramus, a condition amenable to exterior knowledge, help, support modification-you can do something about it
b) the mind-closet full of dirty laundry or with the laundry closet damaged and leaky, both conditions that require a preparation with personal attention and care and a realisator decision, yes or no

having answered "no" knowing you may be unsuitable space cadet, you are likely to drown your pain in the available fake opium churches- like coca cola, where is the bloody coca ?