Americans who believe God created humans is at its lowest in four decades, while evolution theory is at its highest, according to a Monday Gallup Poll.
The report indicated there has been a decline since the early 2000s. However, the most significant percentage of Americans, at 37%, are “creationist purists,” believing God created humans within the past 10,000 in their present form.
Gallup stated that a whopping 24% of US adults now accept the theory of evolution, claiming humans originated from less advanced forms throughout millions of years without the power of God.
Thirty-four percent believe in combining both theories, saying humans did evolve but with God’s help.
The percentage of those who believe in creationism is at its lowest in forty years, although by one percentage point, while evolution theory is at its record high by two percentage points.
The Gallup findings come from a May 1-23 poll at a time when Americans are becoming less likely to identify with a religion, worship as a family, or religion is just not an essential part of their daily lives.
Gallup started measuring Americans’ views on origin in 1982. Creationism and “God-guided” evolution peaked respectively at 47% and 40%. Support has moved downward since 1999, while secular evolution theory has nearly tripled.
Gallup, too, found that creationism was “linked to more religious, less educated, [and] more conservative Americans.”
- Strict creationism was found among those who attended services on the weekly or more, were politically conservative, and were predominately Protestant.
- Strict evolution was much of the inverse, including those who did not belong to any religion, attended services less than monthly, and were politically liberal.
- Evolution influenced by God — the hybrid of the two — seemed more in line with Catholics and college graduates.
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Gallup concluded that as Americans shift away from God, their beliefs in man’s origin have also changed. Fewer are now saying God created human beings in their present form, and more are adhering to the belief of secular evolution. There are also one-third who believe in a mix of the two, making the majority of Americans believe in some form of evolution.
