53% of those surveyed said that evolution (when defined as “the idea that human beings developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life”) is either “definitely true” or “probably true.” However, 66% said that creationism (“the idea that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years”) is true. That seems contradictory, to me. I believe creation and evolution can co-exist, but not when they’re framed with those definitions.
38% said “man developed, with God guiding,” and 43% think “God created man in present form.” Only 14% think “man developed, but God had no part in (the) process”.
24% of Americans believe that both the theory of evolution and the theory of creationism are probably or definitely true. This also proves that 24% of people are either idiots or didn’t read the definitions of evolution and creationism the survey uses. Again, I do think it’s possible for one to believe in both evolution and creationism, but you would have to define creation differently than they have done with this survey.
Finally, I find it astonishing that 19% of those who don’t believe in evolution chose “I believe in Jesus Christ” as their justification for it (this was the most popular response). I don’t think much of anyone, including evolutionists, doubt the existence of Jesus Christ. Believing in Jesus Christ is no reason to not believe in evolution. Every other choice on the list is reasonable, but “I believe in Jesus Christ” is just a laughable response to “Why don’t you believe in evolution?”
001 // Keri Henare // 06.19.2007 // 5:08 PM
A New Zealand radio DJ once said “I have no problem with Christianity… but I can’t stand Christians.” The research really proves that many people are incapable of thinking for themselves.
002 // Matt Robin // 06.19.2007 // 5:53 PM
It’s sort of a Brick Tamland ‘I love lamp’ sort of remark isn’t it? ;)
003 // Baxter // 06.20.2007 // 9:08 AM
I’d like to believe “that human beings developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life”, but I keep finding so much evidence that even given millions of years, many of them haven’t developed a bit.
004 // mrben // 06.21.2007 // 8:13 AM
I think you’ll find that 95% of Americans didn’t fully read the definitions on the questionnaire, but made a kneejerk reaction based on hearing the words “evolution” and “creation” ;)
005 // Zac Wasielewski // 06.24.2007 // 1:07 PM
I agree that the “I belive in Jesus Christ” response is ridiculous — but those 19% may not be entirely illogical.
Many (not all) Christians believe in the concept of “original sin”: that is, the first humans sinned against God (by disobeying his order not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil). Like a genetic mutation, that sin was passed down through the generations. Jesus was born (and died) specifically so that we could be forgiven for the sin of our ancestors and gain “eternal life.”
But if evolution is true, the story of Adam and Eve is just an allegory. And without Adam and Eve, there is no original sin to atone for. So why did Jesus bother to show up?
Of course, there are plenty of alternative “explanations” which interpret scriptures more figuratively. But for those who really believe in the Biblical account of Jesus Christ, evolution is a difficult idea to reconcile.