Half of Americans Now Believe in Creationism

Only 15 percent of Americans now believe the human species evolved from lower forms of life and God had no part in the process, a new Gallup poll reveals.

And nearly half of those polled say they believe God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years.

The survey asked respondents which of the following statements came closest to their views on the origin and development of human beings:

1. Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process — the “theistic evolution” choice.

2. Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process — the “secular evolution” choice.

3. God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so — the creationism choice.

Creationism was chosen by 46 percent of respondents; 32 percent said they believe in theistic evolution; and 15 percent opted for secular evolution.

Not surprisingly, creationism was the choice of 67 percent of respondents who said they attend church weekly, while 25 percent of those who rarely or never attend church agreed with that view.

But it is somewhat surprising that 46 percent of college graduates — and 25 percent of those with postgraduate education — say God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years.

Only 5 percent of Republicans said they think humans evolved without divine guidance, compared to 19 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of independents; 58 percent of Republicans adhere to the creationism view, along with 41 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of independents.

“Despite the many changes that have taken place in American society and culture over the past 30 years, including new discoveries in biological and social science, there has been virtually no sustained change in Americans’ views of the origin of the human species since 1982,” Gallup observed.

“Some 78 percent of Americans today believe that God had a hand in the development of humans in some way, just slightly less than the percentage who felt this way 30 years ago.”