A Creationism Round-up: Alive and Well in America

The Rebuke of Adam and Eve, by Domenichino, 1626

Researchers recently correlated American belief in creationism to American understanding of evolution and found that, among 34 countries, America ranks number 33. Only the people of Turkey know less about evolution than we do, as a nation.

Culprits in our ignorance about the basis of evolution are our poor understanding of biology ~ especially genetics ~ plus a widespread literal interpretation of the Bible, as well as the fact that science in our schools has become highly politicized.

“American Protestantism is more fundamentalist than anybody except perhaps the Islamic fundamentalist, which is why Turkey and we are so close,” said study co-author Jon Miller of Michigan State University.

Findings were based upon data collected between 1985 and 2005 in 32 European countries, the United States and Japan. According to LiveScience, adults in each country were asked whether they thought the statement “Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals,” was true, false, or if they were unsure.

The study found that over the past 20 years:

• The percentage of U.S. adults who accept evolution declined from 45 to 40 percent.
  
• Yet the percentage overtly rejecting evolution also declined, from 48 to 39 percent.
  
• It was the percentage of adults who were unsure that substantially increased, from 7 to 21 percent.
  

Of the other countries surveyed, only Turkey ranked lower, with about 25 percent of the population accepting evolution and 75 percent rejecting it. In Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and France, 80 percent or more of adults accepted evolution. In Japan, 78 percent of adults did.

Influence of Christian Fundamentalism

The analysis found that Americans with fundamentalist religious beliefs ~ defined as belief in substantial divine control over all things worldly ~ were more likely to reject evolution than Europeans with similar beliefs. The discrepancy is due to differences in how American Christian fundamentalist and other forms of Christianity interpret the Bible.

While American fundamentalists tend to interpret the Bible literally and to view Genesis as a true and accurate account of creation, mainstream Protestants in both the United States and Europe instead treat Genesis as metaphorical, the researchers say.

“Whether it’s the Bible or the Koran, there are some people who think it’s everything you need to know,” Miller said. “Other people say these are very interesting metaphorical stories in that they give us guidance, but they’re not science books.”

Click here for the complete article in LiveScience.

In other recent creationist news:

• A recent survey found that 12 percent of U.S. high school biology teachers present creationism or intelligent design in a positive light in the classroom, despite a federal ruling against it. In a 2005 case in Pennsylvania, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones called a school district's policy of teaching intelligent design "breathtaking inanity." Click here for the article.

• A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2005 shows 42 percent of U.S. residents saying they hold strict "creationist'' views that "living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.''  Click here for the article.

• A new survey in the UK found that 29 percent of teachers surveyed via email think creationism and intelligent design should be taught as science. Half of the surveyed teachers said they think excluding these ideas from the classroom would alienate students from science. Click here for the article.

• The Creation Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, is packing them in, with now more than a half-million people touring its Old Testament displays since it opened in May of 2007. Click here for the article.

Believing in creationism at the expense of evolution is not simply a matter of education. Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education in California, told LiveScience it goes deeper, and is a function of our country's culture and history.

“The rejection of evolution is not something that will be solved by throwing science at it,” Scott said. "There needs to be more addressing of creationism from these more moderate theological perspectives. The professional clergy and theologians whom I know tend to be very reluctant to engage in that type of ‘my theology versus your theology’ discussion, but it matters because it’s having a negative effect on American scientific literacy."

Click here for the LiveScience "Top 10 Creation Myths," showing the beliefs of several cultures regarding how life on earth began.