European Christians are evolutionary outliers

[markdohle]

European Christians are evolutionary outliers

(I found this result surprising, not about Europe but about how the majority of Christians around the world do not accept Evolution. I was taught about it from the 2nd grade in the catholic school I attended for four years. Most of my Christians accept some form of Evolution, because from time to time we talk about it. However I don't have many fundementlist friends.

Peace

Mark)

In the Evolution & Development journal survey by David Wilson of Australia's University of Newcastle, roughly 4,300 respondents worldwide detailed their religious beliefs and scientific views. The 2008-2009 survey took three minutes to complete. It shows:

"The most common reason for Christians not accepting evolution was that ''the Bible's book of Genesis should be interpreted literally'' (73% of respondents) and generally reasons were based not on evidence but on religious doctrine. In contrast, the most common reason for not accepting the existence of a god by atheists who supported evolution was that ''there is no evidence'' (85% of respondents) and generally reasons were based on evidence and not on sentiment or principle."

The big exception was Christians in Europe, who largely, 70% in the survey, accept that people evolved from other animals. (Update: For folks unable to click on the link to the study, it found that "almost 60% of Christians believe in creationism and less than 10% believe in natural evolution.") Education may explain their views, as well as factors such as the Vatican's acceptance of evolution as not conflicting with spiritual beliefs.

Outside of Europe, Wilson says, "it was found that reasons for Christians not accepting evolution tended to be based on religious doctrine whereas scientific reasons were generally given for atheists not accepting the existence of a god." For teachers, he adds, the results stress the importance of understanding common religious views of science and spirituality as opponents:

The position of many conservative Christians about our origins is not based on scientific evidence but around meaning in life and convictions about how a religious faith can transform lives. Many of these people are taught to make a choice of either accepting that there is a God and evolution cannot have occurred or that the scientific community is correct about evolution and an implication is that there is no God. Innovative strategies may be required to communicate science effectively to this population. The scientific and pedagogical communities need to understand the cognitive and spiritual trauma that confronts such conservative Christians. Demonstrating how Christian doctrine and worldviews can be reconciled with an understanding of evolutionary science may be a practical way of educating certain population groups to accept scientific evidence.

Atheists and agnostics were much less certain of their views than Christians, the study finds, with agnostics the least "absolutely certain" of their beliefs, 13%, as any group surveyed.

Maybe that's not a surprise, but who knows, really?

By Dan Vergano

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/10/european-christians-evolution-outliers/1

Edited November 2, 2010 by markdohle