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Gallup Poll: Two-thirds of U.S. Are Creationists
This article was written by Dave Eberhart for NewsMax.com A new USA Today/Gallup Poll has found that two-thirds of Americans say creationism is definitely or probably true.
The poll also found that by a margin of more than 2-to-1 more Americans believe creationism is "definitely true” as opposed to those who believe as strongly in evolution.
Creationism is the idea that God created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years in accordance with biblical accounts. The debate over creationism and evolution continues to evoke strong emotion across the country in school boards and various state legislatures.
It has also become a point of interest in the presidential race, especially among the Republican candidates running.
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Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee all raised their hands during the GOP candidates’ debate May 3 when asked who did not believe in evolution — the competing belief system that humans evolved from less-advanced life forms over millions of years, according to a report in USA Today.
"For me it’s as simple as ‘In the beginning, God created heaven and earth,’” Huckabee told members of the media recently. Does he believe in the theory that modern humans descended from primates? "No, I don’t,” is his response.
While Huckabee says the issue doesn’t belong in a presidential race and seven in 10 in the new poll agree it is "not really relevant,” it promises nonetheless to continue to haunt the candidates and may even impact their appeal with certain voters.
Democratic pollster Mark Mellman said the three hand raisers at the debate make the GOP "look like it’s a front for the Flat Earth Society” — and that could turn off independents.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Krauss, a physicist and astronomer at Case Western Reserve University, remarked that the candidates’ creationist stance was in his opinion a danger sign.
"Evolution happened whether or not a candidate believes in it,” he told USA Today, adding presidents should not let "religious or ideological beliefs trump reality.”
Although the creationists racked up the highest numbers in the poll, the evolutionists made a good showing — with 52 percent of those polled saying evolution is definitely or probably true.
There were plenty of middle-of-the-road responses as well, with 25 percent saying both creationism and evolution are definitely or probably true.
There were not many claims of ignorance — with 86 percent saying they were "totally familiar” with creationism and 82 percent professing they were "totally familiar” with evolution.
As to the 25 percent that go along with both theories, Geoffrey Layman, a politics and religion expert at the University of Maryland, told USA Today that, in his opinion, many folks are trying to reconcile science and religion.
"They might believe the science, or they might see the science as hard to dismiss, and they don’t necessarily take Genesis to be literal,” he says. "But they do think that God played some role in directing this evolutionary process.”
Poll results are based on telephone interviews with 1,007 U.S. adults, aged 18-plus, and was conducted June 1-3, 2007.
© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.
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