Why is evolution such a big deal in America?

What is it that seperate America from the rest of the educated world on the subject of evolution?

No other nation has such debates on the matter, even nations such as Spain or Italy, with their strongly Catholic heratige.

What seperates the US from the rest of the world? Worse schools? Limited gene pool? Plain stubborness? Overload of nostalgia?

Where does the urge to fight science come from?

This thread has information on how the movement started in the US.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Religion is often used to get the people to support the government. If their goverment attacks another country fro dubious reasons.. it can make it more pallatable if it's in a 'holy cause'.
Osama: 'Lets have a holy war'.
Bush: 'Great idea! btw.. when are you going to get around to giving those weapons back we gave you? You were suppose to get the russians out and give them back..'

Originally posted by Uncle Joe
Where does the urge to fight science come from?

A basic erosion of seperations over the past 40 years. Hyper-political religious broadcasting. FoxNews. Christ's conversion to capitalism during the Cold War. GOP focus groups. Threats to masculinity. Plus it's easier for politicians to talk about "values" than issues.

Originally posted by Uncle Joe
What is it that seperate America from the rest of the educated world on the subject of evolution?

No other nation has such debates on the matter, even nations such as Spain or Italy, with their strongly Catholic heratige.

What seperates the US from the rest of the world? Worse schools? Limited gene pool? Plain stubborness? Overload of nostalgia?

Where does the urge to fight science come from?

italy and spain are far from being as "extreme" as you may believe people have a deep faith but do not express it as exuberantly as in some other branches of christianity . The church is of course very present and has a non-negligeable influence . Many other european countries still did not separate church and state . One i can talk about is of course my own , the biggest medias (tv, radio, and newspapers) are lead by people who are directly or indirectly linked to the "catholic" party (some of you might know our PM Jean-Claude Junker who is a member). To give you an idea of what happened when i didn't go to church on sunday , the next day, our primary school teacher ,would then punish us for not having been there.Freedom of faith ? Later.... scouts , catholic scouts of course, prayers mass and pilgrimage of all sorts. High school (boarding school) , catholic ...what else (run by monks) , more praying more bible, more pilgrimage, more weeks spent in monasteries(twice a year) to make me an even better catholic and eventually three years in a catholic university , but that was much more interesting than the rest , but it eventually led me to ask for an apostasy (which took me two years)

anyhow all this blabbering to get to the following point . In all those years of extreme catholic "brainwashing" not once have i heard any of the priests or monks doubt evolution in any way , John Paul the second himself clearly stated his approval.
Now why "only" the US ? Maybe because of the "survival" of groups of puritans and other fundamentalist christians who were even to fundamental for europe a few centuries ago and who found a safe haven in the then new british colonies.
Fear is another factor i believe important , fear of the unknown , fear of different cultures or ways of life, definitely lack of information and an education that is to much centered on the US