Below are answers to a recent USA Today/Gallup poll of American's views on evolution/creationism:
Evolution, that is, the idea that human beings developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life
- Definitely true: 18%
- Probably true: 35%
- Probably false: 16%
- Definitely false: 28%
- No opinion: 3%Creationism, that is, the idea that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000
- Definitely true: 39%
- Probably true: 27%
- Probably false: 16%
- Definitely false: 15%
- No opinion: 3%
So, in total, the majority of Americans (53%) think the statement about evolution is true, AND the majority of Americans (66%) think the statement about creationism is true. Often creationists who also believe in evolution agree with the general principles of evolution but think God had a hand in creating the simple organisms from which all life evolved.
However, this question clearly wasn't asking that. It states specifically that God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago. Even if you didn't read the questions carefully, simply looking at the time lines involved, millions of years versus 10,000 years, should make this an either/or question.
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Comments (3)
A lot of christians believe that all other life evolved, but that humans were specially created as stated in the Bible. I am not making this up!
Posted by Dale | June 8, 2007 4:20 PM
That's true. But the questions were pretty specifically about human evolution, and it seems the two viewpoints are completely incompatible if you read the questions carefully. That probably was the problem, though. People answered based on their own definitions of creationism and evolution, rather than the definitions listed in the survey.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari | June 8, 2007 4:47 PM
I think this says more about American literacy than it does about American beliefs
Posted by Dave | June 8, 2007 9:28 PM