America’s public schools may teach naturalistic evolution, but people still don’t believe it: More than 70% of Americans believe that God was involved in the creation of humankind, according to a new Gallup poll.
More than a third (37%) agreed that “God created humans in roughly their present form over the last 10,000 years or so,” and another third (34%) said that “Humans evolved over millions of years from less evolved forms, and God guided this process.”
A record 24% support naturalistic evolution, agreeing that “humans evolved over millions of years from less evolved forms, with no God involved in this process.” The previous high was 22%.
Gallup is investigation Each time since the early 1980s, at least 70 percent have rejected secular evolution.
Gallup’s Megan Brennan said that while Americans still accept God’s involvement, they are more receptive than ever to naturalistic evolution.
In his analysis, Brennan wrote that the survey results “come at a time when Americans are increasingly likely to say they have no religious affiliation or do not belong to a place of worship, and that religion is not important in their daily lives.”
“Gallup began using this question to gauge Americans’ views on human origins in 1982 and has tracked opinions intermittently since then,” Brennan writes. “Belief in creationism and divinely guided evolution peaked at 47 percent and 40 percent, respectively, in 1999 and has been declining since then, while support for evolution without divine intervention has nearly tripled since 1999.”
Americans’ religiosity plays a big role in their beliefs about human origins: Among those who attend religious services at least once a week, 61% say God created humans sometime in the past 10,000 years, compared with just 24% of those who rarely or never go to church.
The survey was conducted in May.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/altmodern
Michael Faust He has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years, and his work has appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star and Knoxville News Sentinel.
