http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_880749.html

oh my

I saw this earlier in USA Today.

I weep for the future of America's science curriculum.

Not trying to create problems, but maybe their curriculum did include evolution, and they chose not to go with it? I was taught several methods of the earth's formation, but came up with my own formula. Is that really so bad?

Thats not bad at all, but saying that proven, tested scientific fact isn't real and therefore should not be taught in schools like Miss Alabama did is so very sad.

That's a bit like saying that people were taught gravity and other reasons why stuff sticks to the earth but chose not to believe in gravity.

So I'm going to frame my response in this way:

Believing that a deity creates gravity is one thing, believing that gravity should not be taught in schools or that it should be taught along with an alternate theory not based in any actual science is another.

After all I believe that gravity is actually stickystuff and that stickystuff is what makes us all stick to the earth, and it's sooooo sticky that it invisibly stretches and snaps us back into place when we jump. (Airplanes drag stickystuff all over!) Why aren't you giving me equal time in science class?

/Teach the controversy.

I don't think that's actually true. In some of the pre-show interviews and it seems like the contestants were trying to be as diplomatic as possible, and even if they didn't believe it, many thought it should be taught in schools.

Why are the head shots on this link taken in the nude? They couldn't find a flattering neutral to wear?

Because Donald Trump owns the pageant?

Although really it looks like nudity is suggested, they could, and probably are, all wearing tube tops.

This was my other conjecture, only I was going to say politically correct. Your wording is, well, much more diplomatic!

Were Americans always so ignorant as to choose to believe in things other than proven scientific fact, or is this a new thing? I live at religious fundamentalist ground zero. Some of these people are downright scary.

If you can be taught to believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that Jesus rode around on t-rexes, then you can pretty much be told to believe anything.

It's not an American thing, it's a superstition thing. That is not to say it is necessarily a religious thing, but religions that do expect you to believe what you're told and ignore evidence to the contrary are guilty of using it.

Has been around for a long time, before America, hell before Rome.

[Continued derailment of thread ahead.] OK, I understand that I'm not terribly religious and that I live in Northern California (ie, the land of heathens) but it simply baffles me that people are so absurdly resistant to something that has been accepted as fact for so long. It's not like evolution is something that was proposed five years ago, this is something that the scientific community has universally deemed correct for a very, very long time.

What I don't understand is this. Evolution by no means disproves God. If there is a deity, he had to create things somehow, and evolution may simply be the mechanism for how he created things. All it disproves is a literal interpretation of many religious texts. But if there is a God, he gave us the ability to observe the natural world around us and discover his mechanics. And if this God-given gift disproves a literal interpretation of a religious text, all it really means is that we are being given a divine clue as to how we are supposed to view that text and apply it in our daily lives.

So therefore, to blatantly refuse to accept what is essentially a verifiable fact at this point (the word "theory" is used in the Theory of Gravity, it's not a word solely used for unproven scientific principles) is not only a slap in the face to reality, but a slap in the face to the God-given gift (once again, presuming there is a God) to understand the world around us.

And don't even get me started about when this refusal to accept reality is used to infringe on the rights of others (*cough*gayscanchoosetheirorientationandbechanged* cough*). That is a whole other category of reprehensible ignorance.

You shouldn't be surprised at all.

I'm just gonna keep it simple and brief.
1. For those who are religious, religion > scientific facts
2. Not everyone is exposed to it because many schools barely touch on the idea. (speaking from experience of course)

People will believe what they believe, no matter how accepted or old the idea/facts is/are.