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evolution, cognitive dissonance, and emotional stress
Cognitive dissonance can arise when evolution is taught in school as factual information, contrary to firmly held religious beliefs. This can lead to symptoms of emotional stress and attempts to discredit the facts.
Research on human mindset indicates humans hold on to core political and religious beliefs even in the face of compelling, contra-indicating factual evidence because they don’t want to have to cope with the emotional stress involved in modifying beliefs.
Those who simply do not wish to believe scientific evidence that conflicts with strongly held religious faith try to discredit evolutionary theory (“shoot the messenger”).
It’s interesting to note that more than 80% of U. S. teenagers believe God created human beings, either directly, by creating us in our present form within the last 10,000 years, or indirectly by guiding the evolutionary process so that we would end up the way we are. Only 20% of adults with a high school education or less believe that Darwinian evolution is a well-supported scientific theory. The remaining 80% presumably believe evolution is “just a hypothesis.” Education tends to dispel belief in creation mythology. The proportion of believers in creation mythology plummets to 35% among adults with a post-graduate education. But that still means 35% of adults with a post-graduated education refuse to believe the scientific evidence supporting Darwinian evolution.