Attitudes to creation/evolution in the UK
The findings of the biggest research project ever carried out into UK public opinion on evolution and the origins of living things was published back in March by the religious think tank Theos. The full findings of the research, conducted by polling company ComRes, are published in report entitled Faith and Darwin. There are some interesting results:
- Just 37% of respondents agree that Darwinian evolution is a theory so well established it is beyond reasonable doubt
- 19%) believe it has little or no supporting evidence
- 36% state that the theory is still waiting to be proved or disproved
People were asked to choose between four possible positions: Young Earth Creationism (YEC), Intelligent Design (ID), Theistic Evolution (TE) and Atheistic Evolution (AE). When asked which position they considered most likely, 17% chose the YEC position,11% chose ID, 28% chose TE and 37% chose AE.
- 14% of people think that human beings are just another species of animal and have no unique value or significance.
- 43% believe that human beings are like other animals but are particularly complex and this complexity gives humans value and significance.
- 40% believe that human beings are uniquely different from other living things and so have a unique values and significance.
