For real. I stopped reading the article once the author used "Begging the question" incorrectly. Not sure how I'm supposed to take any journalism seriously if the reporter can't even use simple English phrases correctly.
That's a very pervasive mistake, to the point where one could question if it may be simply snobbery to insist on it being a mistake (although I am strongly in favor of correct usage, the nature of language is such that people use terms which they believe others will interpret as they do, and the people who associate the "wrong" meaning already appear in the majority). On another note, I think it's generally nothing to be proud of when you "stop reading something", and I wish people would stop announcing it in this complaining manner--if you didn't read the article, there's not much to discuss so you might as well not make this known at all. There are lots of other informative points to be gleaned from the article if you look past these rather superficial errors.
"In 1982, forty-four per cent of Americans held strictly creationist views, a statistically insignificant difference from 2012."
Incorrect use of the term "statistically insignificant" and other stat terms needs to stop.