The percentage of U.S. adults who believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years has hit a new low: 38%.
This is the lowest percentage in 35 years, but interestingly, roughly the same percentage say humans evolved, but that God guided the process. Pollsters also said that less-educated Americans are more likely to believe in creationism. The early May poll found that over 57% believe in some form of evolution — either guided by God or not — saying that man developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life.
Approximately three-quarters of Americans believe God was involved in man’s creation — whether that be the creationist view or the view of God as guiding the evolutionary process. Since 1982, Gallup says agreement with the secular view point that humans evolved from lower life forms without divine intervention has doubled.
“Most Americans believe that God had a role in creating human beings, whether in their present form or as part of an evolutionary process over millions of years,” the Gallup report reads. “But fewer Americans today hold strict creationist views of the origins of humans than at any point in Gallup’s trend on the question, and it is no longer the single most popular of the three explanations.”
There has some minor fluctuation over the years. In 2014, the Gallup organization found that more than four in 10 Americans (42%) believed that God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago. That percentage, which is measured annually by pollsters, was down from 46% in 2012, but up from 40% in 2011. Half of Americans believe humans evolved with the majority saying that God guided the evolutionary process. The percentage who say God was involved, however, is not rising and stood at 32% in 2014 (down from 40% in 2000).
Susan is an author with a long-time interest in religion and science. She currently edits Covalence, the Lutheran Alliance for Faith, Science and Technology’s online magazine. She has written articles in The Lutheran and the Zygon Center for Religion and Science newsletter. Susan is a board member for the Center for Advanced Study of Religion and Science, the supporting organization for the Zygon Center and the Zygon Journal. She also co-wrote Our Bodies Are Selves with Dr. Philip Hefner and Dr. Ann Pederson.
