> half of Americans claim creationism explains the existance of man
This is a fantastic explanation, it just doesn't originate from science.
> 50% of Americans think there was a wider conspiracy behind the assassination of JFK.
This is a perfectly logical thing to believe even in the absence of evidence. It's reasonable for any assassination of a prominent figure.
> 35% of Americans think that global warming is a hoax.
This topic is super-politicized. Uncritical acceptance would be unreasonable (and many do accept one side of this without questioning it). Most people aren't going to do any research into the topic. The 65% who believe global warming probably didn't do any research either.
I think it's not even very fair to call these 'odd beliefs'.
Agreed. They are "odd" only because they contradict mainstream scientific belief. The strange thing is that a lot of people take mainstream scientific belief and make it into a truth so absolute they don't even realize it's a belief anymore. And that is deeply ironic given that may scientific theory is only going to be around until a better one replaces it - it's supposed to be that way.
Even the creationist theory - we have to admit that the story of a bearded man putting dinosaur bones in the ground is pretty silly. But who knows if 65% realy believe that - maybe the majority of those believes in an alternate creationist theory which basically boils down to the universe having an inherent intelligence and an inherent purpose. Which is something that I personally do believe and which people who believe in the "random co-incidence" universe will at least discuss.
Either way the only thing that can be said with absolute certainty of any belief is that it will turn out to be false.
> half of Americans claim creationism explains the existance of man
This is a fantastic explanation, it just doesn't originate from science.
> 50% of Americans think there was a wider conspiracy behind the assassination of JFK.
This is a perfectly logical thing to believe even in the absence of evidence. It's reasonable for any assassination of a prominent figure.
> 35% of Americans think that global warming is a hoax.
This topic is super-politicized. Uncritical acceptance would be unreasonable (and many do accept one side of this without questioning it). Most people aren't going to do any research into the topic. The 65% who believe global warming probably didn't do any research either.
I think it's not even very fair to call these 'odd beliefs'.