News

40% of Americans Believe in Creationism

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: July 26, 2019 8:20 am

Last Updated: January 6, 2020 3:00 am

God created man as he is today sometime in the last 10,000 years. Four in ten Americans believe that statement, according to Gallup. Most other Americans believe man was created through the process of evolution, which began over 1 million years ago they answered.

The Gallup poll was taken between July 3 and July 6. Gallup researchers say the results have changed little since the same questions were asked in 2017. Most of the people who do not believe in creationism fall into two groups. Gallup experts wrote, “However, more Americans continue to think that humans evolved over millions of years — either with God’s guidance (33%) or, increasingly, without God’s involvement at all (22%).”

Views of creationism vary widely by groups. Of those who attend church weekly, 68% believe in creationism. Among those who “seldom or never attend church, the figure is 27%. Belief in creationism is highest among Protestants at 56%, followed by Catholics at 34% and those with no religion at 14%. Broken out by education, 48% of those with no college degree believe in creationism in contrast to 22% among those with college degrees.

Gallup has done a study on creationist views since 1983.  The percent of creationists topped at 47% in 1993 and 1999.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History puts human development at different stages at between 4 million and 100,000 years ago. The older number is about when the earliest humans gained “the ability to walk on two legs.” The more recent date was the start of “Many advanced traits — including complex symbolic expression, art, and elaborate cultural diversity –”

Gallup’s poll shows, therefore that, for many American, the gulf between what most science shows and their beliefs are considerable. Could the views change based on religion and geography? These are the most religious counties in every state.