Table 2 Some major “ultimate/secondary” causes for widespread non-acceptance of evolution in the United States
From: Why Don’t People Think Evolution Is True? Implications for Teaching, In and Out of the Classroom
General anti-intellectualism (see, e.g., Hofstadter 1963; Pierce 2009) | |
Low scientific literacy (Hazen and Trefil 2009) and/or distrust of science (e.g., Sagan 1996; Mooney and Kirschenbaum 2009; Berkman and Plutzer 2009, 2010) | |
Poor teaching (of science generally and evolution in particular) (e.g., Alters and Nelson 2002) | |
Strength, diversity, and decentralization of American religious belief (Lachman 1993; Numbers 2006) | |
Decentralization of American public education (Antolin and Herbers 2001; Berkman and Plutzer 2010) |