Over the weekend, I watched the Oscar nominated documentary, "Jesus Camp". This is one of the more deeply frightening documentaries I've seen in a long time, because I was so unaware of what was going on. Of course, it is only frightening if you are A) Not a right-wing fundamentalist Christian, B) bothered by the notion of deep indoctrination of dogma into children at a young age without allowing them the opportunity to see any alternative beliefs and C)  Not totally into an Orwellian future theocracy that finally discards the long-standing separation between church and state.
I'm not really here to talk about the movie, per se. Just about some of the things that I've been surprised to find out about America during and since the movie. The subjects of the film seek to put god into public schools, teach creationism rather than evolution, and to put more right wing religious fundamentalists into the government. They also want to ban popular media figures such as Harry Potter, and believe no one should be allowed to hear any music or see any films that they find objectionable (Which is to say, all of them). What is really alarming is that this movement is growing, and gaining alarming political power. Ted Haggard, head of the Evangelical movement that sprouts new "Super Churches" daily, has the president's ear, talks with him on the phone weekly. If these people had absolute control of the government, war on Islam for the sake of ridding the world of heretics wouldn't be seen as a bad thing by them.
Today, I was doing a little research online on the creationism movement. I was shocked to find that 46% of Americans believe in creation, essentially just as it is described in the bible. 46% believe that humans were created as-is within the past 10,000 years, from nothing. 46%. Almost half.
According to Wikipedia (and their source, the Washington Times):

According to a 2006Gallup poll,[29] about 46% of Americans believe in strict creationism, concurring with the statement that "God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years," and 36% believe that God guided the process of evolution. Only 13% believe that humans evolved over millions of years, without any supernatural intervention. Belief in creationism is inversely correlated to education; of those with post-graduate degrees, only 22% believe in strict creationism. (Source)

I had thought that creationism was a dying belief, and that evolution was the accepted paradigm. Well, in the world as a whole, that is the case. But Americans aren't buying it. According to a study in "Science", belief in evolution has actually declined in the US over the past decade or so. It was found that Belief in evolution was lower in America than it is anywhere else in the world, with the exception of Turkey. (Chart)

Why was I unaware of this? Am I the only one surprised? How is it that nearly half the US population believes in creationism, and yet, I only know maybe 2-3 people that do? Is it just the circles I travel in?

This is the only point I wanted to make in this post. I don't have the stamina to take on why I think separation of church and state is critical to a free society right now. Perhaps another time. Please educate my apparent ignorance of these things!