The awesome power of ideology to distort reality

A Gallup poll released on June 1, 2012 indicates that 46% of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years. About 32% believe that humans evolved over time but that God guided the evolution. Only 15% believe that humans evolved over time and God had nothing to do with it.

Spitzer Space telescope photo, May 23, 2012

M101, a/k/a the Pinwheel Galaxy; This is 21 million light years away

(That means the light captured in this photo was emitted from that galaxy

21 million years ago.)

That speaks for itself. This is a poll from 2012, not 1012. It is a poll of Americans, not people living in a theocracy like Iran or Israel. A majority of Americans (about 78%*) cannot distinguish scientific theory based on supporting facts and reason from the faith basis on which religion stands. This is about as clear as any example could ever be that the human mind does not rely mainly on logic and reason to arrive at perceptions of reality. When scientific truth conflicts with religious faith, the real (scientific) truth can lose as much as about 78% of the time. That's just a fact.

* Actually, its 85% if you count the people who didn't express an opinion. How can any adult American not have an opinion about whether God literally made humans within the last 10,000 years? Maybe the 7% thought it was a trick question. Whatever, that confused and/or suspicious bunch really does belong with the other 78%.

Spitzer Space telescope photo, April 24, 2012

M104, a/k/a the Sombrero Galaxy; This galaxy within a galaxy is 28 million light years away

This is contemporary proof of the awesome power of ideology to distort reality into something it is not. That is a reason that California Moderates constantly criticizes the role of ideology in politics. If religious faith can so utterly distort something as rock solid as the theory of evolution, just think what political and religious ideology does in politics. In politics, the evidence and theory are much softer and more subtle than in the evolution 'debate'.

This doesn't speak well of the state of K-12 public education in America. In fact, one could easily argue it is clear evidence of profound failure at the K-12 level.

 Spitzer Space telescope photo, February 29, 2012

M42, a/k/a the Orion nebula; This nebula is 1,450 light years away

It is no wonder that liberals and conservatives often see utterly different realities even though they are looking at the exact same thing. Liberals and conservatives cannot possibly see the same thing through the distorting lens of their political and religious faiths. The problem is, of course, that reality doesn't care what anyone wants it to be. Reality just is what it is. That is why ideologues tend to distort and reject it when it doesn't align with their faith.

The big question

The question is whether one side in politics or both have it wrong for any given issue when they see two very different and incompatible realities. Both can logically be wrong. But, they both can't possibly be right, unless one's definition of logic allows mutually incompatible realities to coexist at the same time. Or, is there a flaw in that view of reality? If so, what?

 Spitzer Space telescope photo, December 21, 2011

GN-108036

 This galaxy is 12.9 billion light years away