Many Believe in Divine Intervention

This is the kind of "general public" that one has to deal with when we try to introduce science and scientific rationality. A new survey being published showed that more than half of Americans surveyed believe in some kind of miraculous, divine intervention to help save and revive a dying patient, despite all professional medical advice.

More than half of randomly surveyed adults -- 57 percent -- said God's intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared treatment would be futile. And nearly three-quarters said patients have a right to demand that treatment continue.

What year is this again?

Now, couple this with the recent report on whether Americans are science-savvy enough to make an informed decision, and then you look at the 2008 Science and Engineering Indicators on the public's understanding of science, and you can understand why I have such a skeptical view of science acceptance by the public. They'll use it, and they'll depend on it, but don't count of them having any degree of acceptance and understanding of it.

Zz.