Canadians Devolving Into Creationists?

As I was browsing the internet today, I came across this interesting (and somewhat disturbing) Angus Reid poll. It explored Canadian attitudes toward creationist theory, in light of the recent openings of creationist "museums" in Kentucky and - surprise, surprise -Alberta. In addition, our very own Public Safety Minister, the Honourable Stockwell Day, has famously claimed that the earth is only about 6000 years old, and that there is scientific 'proof' that man and dinosaur co-existed.

Anyways, here are some of the poll results:

Which of these statements comes closest to your own point of view regarding the origin and development of human beings on earth?

Human beings evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years - 59%
God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years - 22%
Not sure - 19%


The Big Valley Creation Science Museum opened this month in Alberta. One of the museum’s displays suggests that dinosaurs and human beings co-existed on earth. Do you agree or disagree with this assertion?

Agree - 42%
Disagree - 37%
Not sure - 21%

So what to make of this? Clearly, a majority of Canadians (nearly 60%) support the Darwinian notion of evolution. Yet 42% of Canadians also agree with the preposterous idea that man and dinosaurs co-existed, outnumbering slightly those who disagree. Coexistence is one of the fundamental tenets of modern day creationist thinking, and displays to this effect are present in both the Alberta and the Kentucky creationist museums. According to Grant Lafleche of the St. Catharines Standard, even the pollsters at Angus Reid were perplexed by the apparent contradiction.

I have been pondering these numbers all day, and I must confess they are puzzling to me as well. I can only conclude that while most Canadians accept evolutionary theory, many are not well enough versed in it to understand that it precludes the coexistence of man and dinosaur. Or perhaps they are merely confused at the sight of intellectual dinosaurs like Stockwell Day roaming freely amongst normal, thinking human beings in Ottawa.

Another 'Day' of Confusion

One of the many Conservative responses to allegations of detainee torture in Afghanistan has been that they have never seen any specific allegations. According to Government House Leader Peter van Loan, the Tories have "yet to see one specific allegation of torture". Sounds pretty definitive eh? And it would be - if it was true.

As the Globe & Mail reports today, Stockwell Day was informed of specific abuse allegations last week. You can read about it here.
"We've actually had a couple of incidents where detainees said they were [tortured]" said Day.

PM Harper meanwhile continues to insist that he is satisfied by assurances from Afghan authorities that prisoners are not being abused by Afghan authorities.

Over at the National Post, Jonathan Kay has written an editorial about the "headline-hogging" story of prisoner abuse. He complains that the good news stories - such as the decline in infant mortality rates since the ouster of the Taliban - are being buried in favour of those detailing the government's response (or lack thereof) to torture allegations. He rightly admonishes suggestions that our politicos should be investigated as war criminals - idiocy and incompetence are not crimes - but goes on to suggest that we "are treating the whole exercise like one big human rights grad seminar". He misses the point. True, we should all celebrate our triumphs in Afghanistan. The Taliban were a group of animalistic tyrants whose deeds were a stain on humanity. The decline in infant mortality in Afghanistan is likely one of many admirable after-effects of their removal from power. But the fact that war is "messy" and the enemy dishonourable should never give us license to turn a blind eye to torture and mistreatment of prisoners, be they Taliban or otherwise. We owe it to the very people we free from tyranny that we adhere to principles of fundamental human rights. If we don't demonstrate to the Afghan people that we take basic human rights seriously (and that these rights apply to everyone), who else will?