Why do some people not believe in the established biological fact of evolution?

Question

Are these people possibly mentally retarded?

Answer 1

Because people like believing in invisible men in the sky. Gives them a sense of profound existence.

Answer 2

They have been taught by their antisecularist subcultures that there is no proof, and believe it.

Proof of evolution:

http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA...

What a theory is in science:

http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA...

Index to creationist claims:

http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/list....

Answer 3

This might seem a bit far fetched but i think this is the reason.

Because believing in  evolution means not believing in races, racism and inherent biological inequalieties. and iut also means accepting with humility that all human beings are equal (they are different, not similar but they are equal)

that also means that if there are people who are deprived, poor and if there are people who are very rich, wealthy enjoying privileges, the fault does not lie with those who are deprived, the fault to an extent lies with the rich, wealthy and advantaged lot. And to a large extent it lies with the system and with those who find nothing wrong in it.

To accept this is to accept responsibility and to do something about this unfair situation.

Those who want to avoid the guilt pang and those who dont want to take any responisbility towards their fellow humans want to believe that it is the fault of the deprived lot. Not believing in evolution make it easier.

Answer 4

for the same reason they believed the earth was flat.  The just learn what their elders teach them!!!!!!

Answer 5

Show me one biological fact that proves evolution. One. Not one scientist has come close to answering how life originated in the first place. Not one beneficial mutation with an increase in genetic knowledge has ever been observed, nor can it be created by science. Beneficial mutations (rare as they are) have always and every time shown a loss of genetic knowledge in the host. exactly backwards to the process evolution needs to have had. The fruit fly has been genetically altered over 500 times, but never one time has it been beneficial. The first living cell forming from non living matter would be a bigger miracle than God creating man. According to abiogenesis the first cell would have been an amino acid. But water would stop any proteins from bonding to it. Your theory says that is where life started, but proves itself false.

Answer 6

I belive that this is because people build their beliefs based on what they have been told by people that they trust. Many intelligent people simply haven't yet been exposed to someone who is capable of explaining the process of evolution to them. If one wants to enlighten them one must treat them with respect for no one is going to trust someone who looks down their nose at them. It takes time for these complex social understandings to shift to meet new developments, generations in fact. So be patient and be willing to talk rationally about evolution whenever you feel it is appropriate.

Answer 7

No, they have been brought up by people who loved and cared for them to believe certain things to be true, and now have such a large emotional investment in that belief system, that even the possibility of ever questioning its basis would not enter their minds, having been told that the people who do, have succumbed to Satan, and will burn in the eternal fires of h**l, and them too, if they listen to them. So they set up barriers to reason and logical argument, and come up with fanciful constructs, like an Ark which could have held all the dinosaurs, and mastodons, megatheriums, etc., from all of history. Even today, we could not build such a craft! Their response: "Don't confuse me with facts!". Some are quite intelligent, otherwise. Such a shame, particularly for their children, which is why it is so important to resist the teaching of creationism in schools. At least give the children a chance to learn to think for themselves. As the catholics used to say: "Give me the child till the age of 7, and he will be mine for life!" Now even the catholics have accepted evolution, and only the fundamentalists, amongst the christians, are holding out, mostly in the "bible belt" of America. Muslims, too, and some Jews, have their own fundamentalism.

Answer 8

No these people are not mentally retarded, they are fundimentalists. They believe in what they believe in and no one will change their mind on any of it no matter what. Believe it or not , the Flat Earth Society consists of members who still believe that the Earth is Flat. Reason and logic do not work with all people. That is just life.

Answer 9

because they are idiots, evidently.

Answer 10

They clearly aren't mentally retarded. The simplest answer is that they have a very high (probably unreasonably so) standard of evidence. Some of these people would have to see evolution happening before their eyes before they accepted it, which is most unlikely.

Thinking of them as mentally retarded shows an unwillingness on your part to examine or at least entertain other points of view. That makes a rather bad scientist, or skeptic.

Answer 11

I think most people just aren't educated enough. They believe only what their church tells them.

Answer 12

Because evolution itself is not as accurate as it could be....  Examples are the missing missing links.... How can one believe in something that has no precise evidence... Yes, the fact maybe established but is it proven by all the branches of science? They are not mentally retarded, they are just human who want precise proofs for something that can be trusted until proven true...

Answer 13

Because...it's easier to believe that humans just appeared one day...naked and hungry....by an omnopotent power which hasn't really been as active since then now has it..guess it must've tired him out for another million years..

Now isn't that sooo much more logical o_O.

No they're not mentally retarded...just very slow....

we can't have too many big words like 'Evolution' long sentences or they might spontaneously combust....

Answer 14

Believing in something that has proof makes too much sense...

Answer 15

because it is not an established biological fact for one thing.

of course there is evolution, but to what degree and the total history? all theroies. we dont have all the facts in yet.

Answer 16

I have really come to believe that there is something in the human psyche that needs religion.  For those who don't believe in God, they tend to have belief systems nearly as great as those that do.  I am a strong believer in evolution and as a geologist, I understand better than most how the earth formed.  Most who don't accept evolutionary theory are not mentally retarded.  They are just ignorant of science.  They get contradictory information.  Also I think sometimes it is easier to just say you believe and ignore any evidence and then you can go to church and be part of a community.  If you find out something is false, then you have to act to remain moral and they do not want to do anything about it.  They like the status quo.  They want to keep their friends and status in the community.  It must be nice, but for me, I love the truth too much.