How Many Creationists Are There in America?

[Dan_Eastwood]

Not as many as the older Pew Survey question seemed to indicate.

How Many Creationists Are There in America?

[cwhenderson (Curtis Henderson)]

I’m very curious about the 12-13% of the religiously “unaffiliated” that state’s they believe that humans have always existed in the current form. How could that be interpreted?

It also appears that Americans are progressing in their beliefs that science does not necessarily contradict the Christian faith.

[Dan_Eastwood]

@cwhenderson

I’m very curious about the 12-13% of the religiously “unaffiliated” that state’s they believe that humans have always existed in the current form. How could that be interpreted?

One possibility: The accept science AND believe God created everything; they understand those things have different meanings and don’t fuss over contradictions that can’t be resolved with a single answer.

[Dan_Eastwood]

Oh wait … UNaffiliated … that is a puzzler. Maybe they were confused by the question? Or consider themselves religious but don’t affiliate with any specific church?

I went thru a phase where I still considered myself religious. It was more a matter of figuring out what to call myself than of changing beliefs.

[glipsnort (Steve Schaffner)]

@cwhenderson

I’m very curious about the 12-13% of the religiously “unaffiliated” that state’s they believe that humans have always existed in the current form. How could that be interpreted?

Possible interpretations:

1. They are not affiliated with a religion, but retain at least some evangelical beliefs.
2. They were drunk.
3. They aren’t religious but don’t hold with a bunch of liberal nonsense.
4. They were confused.

[Eddie (Edward Robinson)]

Thanks for this useful link, Dan. I’ve long thought that the way questions about origins are put makes a difference, and this provides confirmation of that.

[Dan_Eastwood]

The older survey uses a sort of “forced choice” question, where limited responses prevent people from responding in a way that accurately reflects their opinion. I recognised this long ago and knew the “50% believe in YEC” must be a biased estimate. I’m glad to see Pew is finally getting around to addressing this.

In Pew’s defense, it is also important to keep asking the same questions in the same way over time.

[gbrooks9 (George)]

Let’s not forget that the upshot of the single-question methodology is learning that there is a large part of the US population that believes God has guided evolution!
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[Faizal_Ali]

@glipsnort

Possible interpretations:

1. They are not affiliated with a religion, but retain at least some evangelical beliefs.
2. They were drunk.
3. They aren’t religious but don’t hold with a bunch of liberal nonsense.
4. They were confused.

5. They are honestly ignorant.

[nwrickert (Neil Rickert)]

@cwhenderson

I’m very curious about the 12-13% of the religiously “unaffiliated” that state’s they believe that humans have always existed in the current form. How could that be interpreted?

We live in a world where there are flat-earthers, geocentrists, anti-vaxxers. Maybe some folk just like to be non-conformist.

[Rich_Hampton]

”Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them [the population] are stupider than that.“ George Carlin

Polls will always say include answers from people who don’t know what they’re talking about. This is true for those who sided with evolution or creation.