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Apr 17 2007

A Disturbing Trendline

I found this data on the Gallup website:

At this rate, it will take almost 2000 years for americans to come to grips with the fact that they are on their own, developed from lower species, and are an accident of nature. That's a long damned time to accept a well-established scientific fact. Also, check out this data on pseudoscientific/mystic concepts in the US as a function of time (also from Gallup):

Belief in paranormal phenomena: 1990, 2001, and 2005
Percentages

1990 2001 2005
ESP, or extrasensory perception 49 50 41
Houses can be haunted 29 42 37
Ghosts or spirits of dead people can come back in certain places and situations 25 38 32
Telepathy, or communication between minds 36 36 31
Clairvoyance, or the power of the mind to know the past and predict the future 26 32 26
People can hear from or communicate mentally with someone who has died 18 28 21
Astrology, or the position of the stars and planets, can affect people's lives 25 28 25
Witches 14 26 21
Reincarnation, or the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death 21 25 20
Channeling (an entity takes control of a body) 11 15 9

(source)
Why did many of these surge in the 90s?! Why do way more people believe in witches?! I am clearly out of touch, here.