71 Percent of Americans Reject Naturalistic Evolution Despite Public School Teachings
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Aug 21, 2024
America’s public schools may be teaching naturalistic evolution, but the public still isn’t buying it. According to a new Gallup survey, more than 70 percent of Americans believe God had a hand in creating humanity.
More than one-third (37 percent) agreed with a statement that “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so,” while another one-third (34 percent) said “human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process.”
A record-high 24 percent sided with naturalistic evolution, agreeing with the view that “human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process.” The previous record was 22 percent.
Gallup has conducted the survey since the early 1980s, and at least 70 percent have rejected secular evolutionary theory each time.
Gallup’s Megan Brenan said Americans are more receptive to naturalistic evolution than ever, even if they still see God involved.
The findings “come at a time when Americans are increasingly likely to say they do not identify with a religion or belong to a house of worship, and that religion is not important in their daily lives,” Brenan wrote in an analysis.
“Gallup began measuring Americans’ views of human origins using this question in 1982 and has intermittently tracked opinions since then,” Brenan wrote. “Belief in creationism and God-guided evolution reached their peaks of 47 percent and 40 percent, respectively, in 1999 and have since trended downward. Meanwhile, support for evolution without divine intervention has nearly tripled since 1999.”
Americans’ views on religion play a major role in their beliefs on origins. Among those attending religious services at least weekly, 61 percent say God created humanity in the past 10,000 years. Among those who rarely attend church, only 24 percent do.
The survey was conducted in May.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/altmodern
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
