A recent survey conducted by the British Council and marketing research company Ipsos MORI looked at the reactions of 10,000 individuals from ten different countries to Darwin and his theory of evolution. Among the questions the team asked were whether individuals had heard of Charles Darwin, whether they believed there was scientific evidence for evolution, whether a person can believe in both evolution and God, and how the universe was created.
The graph above shows the results to the question of whether one can believe in God and evolution simultaneously. As it shows, in most countries far more agreed a person can believe in both than disagreed. India showed the most overwhelming agreement to the statement, while Egypt showed the strongest disagreement. It is helpful to remember, however, that the question did not imply belief in the Christian interpretation of God.
The same survey also found that 43% of the Americans, South Africans, and Indians surveyed believed life on Earth was created in its current form by a divine creator. Conversely, a majority of those surveyed in China, Great Britain, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, and Russia believed that life evolved over time through natural selection without God playing a part. China showed the most overwhelming support for this view, with 67% of those surveyed in agreement. Only India showed a majority support (50%) for creation through evolution that involved God.
While surveys are not always accurate representations of a larger population, the results of this study offer some interesting ideas about the international debate over religion, evolution, and origins. The full data is currently available via Google Documents, and a more general press release can be found on the British Council's Darwin Now Web site.
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I think God created evolution. If nothing more than to get people talking about him. I remember when I was in school we had discussion on creation vs evolution. Iam sure this particular topic would not even be hinted at in this day and time. I always belived in creation because of the way in which I was raised. I guess whom ever choose to belive in evolution they do so because of the way in which they were raised. I do not try to convince people to believe in my beliefs I accept people for who and what they are.
It would be interesting (maybe this is in the full data) to see how many of those who disagreed (took a position of incompatibility) in each country were Christians. Or, alternatively, a breakdown of this answer between believers and atheists/agnostics. It is my impression (but real data would be better) that the dogma of incompatibility between evolution and faith is much more widespread among U.S. Christians than among Christians in other developed countries, like the U.K.
The question of choosing between 'God' and 'Darwin' is never really the issue at the cultural level.
The specific issue really always comes down to 'Darwin' vs. 'Religious/Denominational belief about God'.
Most specifically it usually ends up on the battle ground that has Bible literalists as one of the participants.
So the battle really is Darwin vs Judeo Christian Scriptures.
I don't understand why this vague question of God vs Darwin is always put forward when it is about religion vs Darwin.
Raymond,
Darwin did believe that humans and apes share a common ancestor. He even wrote a book called The Descent of Man. I think some of the blog postings and articles here on biologos.org explain some of the evidence for this.
If these figures are accurate the people of India should take a bow. Simultaneous beliefs in God and evolution do not contradict each other and therefore it is possible to believe in both. Science can neither prove God or disprove God. An interesting scientific fact is that the human brain is "wired" for God. The unmistakable truth for evolutionists is that natural selection has permitted this advancement to occur. Natural selection has decided that this enhancement is an accurate reflection of the environment.
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