Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by God

Earlier this year, the State Board of Education in Kansas reignited an old debate: whether or not creationism should be taught in public schools, and shone the spotlight on a new theory, intelligent design. While many in the scientific community may question why this issue has been raised again, a new national survey shows that almost two-thirds of U.S. adults (64%) agree with the basic tenet of creationism, that "human beings were created directly by God."


At the same time, approximately one-fifth (22%) of adults believe "human beings evolved from earlier species" (evolution) and 10 percent subscribe to the theory that "human beings are so complex that they required a powerful force or intelligent being to help create them" (intelligent design). Moreover, a majority (55%) believe that all three of these theories should be taught in public schools, while 23 percent support teaching creationism only, 12 percent evolution only, and four percent intelligent design only.

These are some of the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 1,000 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive between June 17 and 21, 2005.

Other key findings include:

- A majority of U.S. adults (54%) do not think human beings developed
from earlier species, up from 46 percent in 1994.

- Forty-nine percent of adults believe plants and animals have evolved
from some other species while 45 percent do not believe that.

- Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a
common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we do
not).

- Again divided, 46 percent of adults agree that "Darwin's theory of
evolution is proven by fossil discoveries," while 48 percent disagree.


Factors such as age, education, political outlook, and region appear to guide views on this debate.


- In general, older adults (those 55 years of age and older), adults
without a college degree, Republicans, conservatives, and Southerners
are more likely to embrace the creationism positions in the questions
asked.

- Those with a college education, Democrats, independents, liberals,
adults aged 18 to 54 and those from the Northeast and West support the
belief in evolution in larger numbers. However, among these groups,
majorities believe in creationism.

- Despite the significant numbers who believe in creationism, pluralities
among the demographic subgroups examined still believe all three
concepts (evolution, creationism, and intelligent design) should be
taught in public schools.