Only 4 in 10 believe in evolution
This week the Gallup Poll released a survey showing that only one in four Americans believe in evolution, and that the percentage drops dramatically for those who attend church weekly:
On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, a new Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution," while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36% don't have an opinion either way. These attitudes are strongly related to education and, to an even greater degree, religiosity.. . .
Darwin's theory has been at the forefront of religious debate since he published On the Origin of Species 150 years ago. Even to this day, highly religious individuals claim that the theory of evolution contradicts the story of creation as outlined in the book of Genesis in the Bible.
Thus, it comes as no surprise to find that there is a strong relationship between church attendance and belief in evolution in the current data. Those who attend church most often are the least likely to say they believe in evolution.
Previous Gallup research shows that the rate of church attendance is fairly constant across educational groups, suggesting that this relationship is not owing to an underlying educational difference but instead reflects a direct influence of religious beliefs on belief in evolution.
Read it all here.
I wonder if they also believe the earth is flat, that the sun revolves around the earth, that the sky is simply a dome over the land and that dinosaurs and man lived on the earth at the same time, giving rise to such cinematic classics as One Million B.C. starring Racquel Welch? Why is it so implausible that the Big Bang and evolution aren't really God's plan and that the creation story of the Old Testament is simply a literary metaphor explaining something that was not truly understood by the ancients?
- Richard Warren
Posted by Richard III![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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February 15, 2009 3:21 PM
Thinking Anglicans has a link to Andrew Brown's Guardian article "Science vs. Superstition, not Science vs. Religion." It's got me thinking:.
Quote: "A third of the population think that God created the world some time in the last 10,000 years; this is more than 10 times the number of Muslims in Britain, assuming they are all creationists, which of course they aren't. It is also more than 10 times the most generous estimate for the the fundamentalist Christian population here. The figure only make sense on the basis that much of the population has abandoned both science and organised religion, and plunged back onto a swamp of superstition."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/feb/13/religion-evolution
Charlotte Pressler
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February 15, 2009 7:31 PM
The question is flawed to begin with. Evolution is not something one "believes" in. That language is only applicable to areas like religion, not to science. Science is an inquiry that is always provisional and depends upon observed data, not belief. The failure to understand this is a great shortcoming of science education in this country.
Posted by Denise Giardina![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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February 15, 2009 9:31 PM
I agree with Denise Giardina. I don't think this poll really reflects anything so much as the failure of scientists to communicate clearly with "laypeople" (i.e., non-scientists) about their discipline - and a greater failure of the media!
When the question is posed this way, as if evolution were something one can "believe" or "not believe" in, it says that it's something one can decide on one's own about, as if it were the same sort of question as whether God is in Three Persons, or whether Jesus of Nazareth was the Incarnation of God on earth. These are questions of "belief."
So I think it's no wonder people reject "belief" in evolution! Why should they not, when it's apparently a matter of personal inclination?
I do agree, though, that the religious anti-evolution crowd is a different kettle of fish - they do reject evolution out of hand, "belief" or not. But they aren't 6 in 10 Americans, either, so there are some others involved here. And there is something wrong with approaching the topic this way in the first place.
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February 16, 2009 10:54 AM