PUBLIC BELIEFS ABOUT
EVOLUTION AND CREATION

[...]

Beliefs of American adults:
According to Newsweek in 1987, "By one count there are some 700
scientists with respectable academic credentials (out of a total of
480,000 U.S. earth and life scientists) who give credence to
creation-science..." That would make the support for creation
science among those branches of science who deal with the earth
and its life forms at about 0.14% 5 However, the American public
thinks very differently.

The Gallup Organizations periodically asks the American public
about their beliefs on evolution and creation. They have conducted
a poll of U.S. adults in 1982, 1991, 1993 and 1997. By keeping their
wording identical, each year's results is comparable to the others.

Results for the 1991-NOV-21 to 24 poll were:

Belief system Creationist view Theistic evolution Naturalistic
Evolution

Group of adults [1] God created man pretty much in his present
form at one time within the last 10,000 years. [2] Man has
developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life,
but God guided this process, including man's creation. [3] Man has
developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life.
God had no part in this process.

                                       [1]        [2]        [3]
Everyone                        47%     40%       9%
Men                               39%     45%     11.5%
Women                          53%     36%       6.6%
College graduates           25%     54%     16.5%
No high school diploma  65%     23%       4.6%
Income over $50,000     29%     50%     17%
Income under $20,000   59%     28%       6.5%
Caucasians                     46%     40%       9%
Afro-Americans              53%     41%       4%

1997-NOV data is little changed. Note the massive differences
between the beliefs of the general population and of scientists:

Belief system Creationist view Theistic evolution Naturalistic
Evolution

Group of adults God created man pretty much in his present form at
one time within the last 10,000 years. Man has developed over
millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided
this process, including man's creation. Man has developed over
millions of years from less advanced forms of life. God had no part
in this process.

                                [1]     [2]     [3]
Everyone                 44%   39%  10%
Scientists                   5%   40%  55%

Political science professor George Bishop of the University of
Cincinnati published a paper in 1998-AUG listing and interpreting
1997 poll data. "Bishop notes that these figures have remained
remarkably stable over time. These questions were first asked
about 15 years ago, and the percentages in each category are
almost identical. Moreover, the profiles of each group has been
constant. Just as when these questions were first asked 15 years
ago, creationists continue to be older, less educated, Southern,
politically conservative, and biblically literal (among other things).
Women and African-Americans were more likely to be creationists
than whites and men. Meanwhile, younger, better educated,
mainline Protestants and Catholics were more likely to land in the
middle as theistic evolutionists." 1

With the elderly representing a gradually increasing part of the U.S.
population, one would expect that the creationist view would
receive increasing support. In fact, there appears to be a gradual
erosion of support for the creationist view.  It is barely statistically
significant. The sample size is about 1,000 so the sampling error is
within +/- 3.2%, 19 times out of 20. It will take a decade or two to
determine if a significant shift has really happened.

By any measure, the United States remains a highly religious
nation, compared to other developed countries. And its citizens
tend to hold more conservative beliefs. For example, the
percentage of adults who believe that "the Bible is the actual word
of God and it is to be taken literally, word for word" is 5 times higher
in the U.S. than in Britain. Church attendance is about 4 times
higher in the U.S. than it is in Britain. 1 Similarly, according to one
opinion poll, belief that "Human beings developed from earlier
species of animals..." is much smaller in the United States (35%)
than in other countries (as high as 82%).

Beliefs among conservative Christians:
In 1999-NOV, Focus on the Family, a Fundamentalist Christian
agency concluded a poll of their web site visitors concerning their
beliefs about creation and evolution. Results were:

 God created the universe, but I don't know when: 46%
 God created the universe thousands of years ago: 43%
 God created the universe billions of years ago: 10%
 Life came into being and evolved on its own: 1%
 I don't have a clue: 0.4% 6

[Author's note: The poll is not particularly well designed; it mixes
apples and oranges. The first three options concern when the world
came into existence and assumes that God created it. The fourth
response concerns evolution of life on earth. A participant in the
poll might well believe that God created the world billions of years
ago and that life evolved on its own. They would believe in two
options, but could mark only one.]

The participants in the poll are self-selected from among the visitors
to the Focus web site. They may not represent typical
Fundamentalist or other Evangelical Christian practices.

Beliefs elsewhere in the world:
Belief in creation science seems to be largely a U.S. phenomenon.
A British survey of 103 Roman Catholic priests, Anglican bishops
and Protestant ministers/pastors showed that:

 97% do not believe the world was created in six days.
 80% do not believe in the existence of Adam and Eve. 4

Why do they hold these opinions?
The Wichita Eagle and the Kansas City Star, surveyed 604
respondents on 1999-OCT-22 to 26. Kansas has been a target of
much interest and some ridicule after the state Board of Education
dropped the necessity of teaching evolution in its public schools. 3
Some interesting comments by Kansans were published. As
always, beliefs seem to be derived from people's fundamental
interpretation of the Bible:

 Auctioneer Gary Corwin said: "I believe that the Lord God created
everything, just like the Bible says, I don't think we came from
apes." [Author's note:  95% of scientists support evolution and have
reached a consensus that humans did not come from apes either;
they believe that humans and apes have a common ancestor.]
 The National Center for Science Education, which promotes the
teaching of evolution. Spokesperson Eugenie Scott commented: "It
goes to the meaning and purpose of life. I think many Americans
believe that somehow they are less special to God if they evolved
from nonhuman animals." [Author's note: The main alternative to
evolution is found in Genesis which states that Adam came from dirt.]
 The Rev. Victor Calcote, pastor of Epworth United Methodist
Church in Wichita KS stated: "I believe there is a God that's in
control of creation. I've never gotten hung up on how he did it." He
added: "I don't appreciate some of the caricatures of Kansans. Just
because our school board voted that way doesn't mean we're a
bunch of bumbling idiots."
 A liberal religious source was not interviewed. If someone who was
a Unitarian Universalist minister or a Humanist or other secularist
were asked, they would probably comment that Genesis is a very
beautiful myth, but not a story that should be interpreted literally.
The authors of Genesis lived in a pre-scientific era and simply
adopted creation legends from their surrounding Pagan societies.

Other related essays dealing with evolution & creation science:
 Overview of evolution and creation science
 3 conflicting world views, and many individual belief systems
 Beliefs held by various faith groups

References:
1. Johnathan Moore, "What do Americans believe about the origin of species," Public Religion Project, 1998-OCT-12.
2. George Bishop, "The Religious Worldview and American Beliefs about Human Origins" The Public Perspective, 1998-AUG.
3. "Most Kansans for evolution: Majority polled think kids should study, be tested,"  Associated Press, 1999-NOV-9.
4. News item in ReligionToday for 1999-DEC-29. They quoted the Conservative News Service. Original source of data was not  specified.
5. Newsweek magazine, 1987-JUN-29, Page 23.
6. "What do you believe about creation or evolution?," Focus on the Family poll, at: http://www.focusonthefamily.org/focuspollarchive.cfm?

Originally published on 1995-NOV. Copyright c 1995 to 2000 incl.
Most recent update: 2000-MAR-29 Author: B.A. Robinson

[...]

(Robinson B.A., "Public Beliefs about Evolution and Creation,"
March 2000. http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm.
Numbers in square brackets not in original.)

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