Friday 6 March 2009

Four out of five Britons repudiate creationism

‘Belief map’ uncovers British views of origins

A survey of over two thousand people has identified the regions of the UK where religious views of creation are weakest and strongest. The east of England stood out as the region where the largest proportion (44 per cent) believed the theory of evolution removes any need for God. Literal readings of the Bible were strongest in Northern Ireland where 25 per cent believed in creationism and 16 per cent in ‘intelligent design’ (the belief that certain aspects of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause). In Wales, belief in theistic evolution (38 per cent) was the highest. The poll was commissioned by the Theos think tank to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth.

Sources: The Guardian (2/3), Daily Telegraph (2/3)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/02/charles-darwin-creationism-intelligent-design
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4926271/Four-out-of-five-Britons-do-not-believe-in-creationism.html

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to say that the numbers for those who believed in a literal reading of Genesis are higher than I thought it would be.

Olive Morgan said...

H'm. it was very interesting, wasn't it?