Over Two-Thirds of Republicans Reject Evolution

According to a new Gallup poll, while the country is essentially split 49/48 on evolution vs. creationism, 68% of Republicans do not believe in evolution. When three candidates raised their hands in a debate indicating that they do not believe in evolution, Jon Stewart snarked, "It was good knowing you." In fact it's a pretty solid position to holds

Even among people who believe in evolution, a significant number nonetheless believe that God created humans in essentially their present form about 10,000 years ago. Overall, 63% of Americans agreed with that statement versus 49% who answered that they believe generally in evolution.

While the Intelligent Design crowd and for that matter the young-earthers at Answers in Genesis put a sciency gloss on their arguments, the fact remains that this is all about religion. When creationists were asked for the most important reason they hold their beliefs, only 14% said because the scientific evidence is lacking. The bulk of the responses went to reasons like "Because I am a Christian" or "Because I believe what's in the Bible."

All in all, good information for opposing ID or "Scientific" Creationism as science, but a distressing set of findings overall.

H/t to Faith in Public Life which led me to a poorly-written story in Christian Post which led in turn to the article on Gallup.