{"id":457,"date":"2009-02-01T21:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-01T21:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/02\/how-many-britons-are-creationist.html"},"modified":"2009-02-01T21:50:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-01T21:50:00","slug":"how-many-britons-are-creationist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2009\/02\/how-many-britons-are-creationist.html","title":{"rendered":"How many Britons are creationist?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

According to a survey out today, it\u2019s 50%. The survey itself is sponsored by Theos, the religious think tank, as part of their program to \u2018Rescue Darwin<\/a>\u2018 from his association with atheism. The survey results are published yet, but The Guardian<\/a> has a report on them:<\/p>\n

The poll found that 25% of Britons believe Charles Darwin<\/a>\u2018s theory of evolution is \u201cdefinitely true\u201d, with another quarter saying it is \u201cprobably true\u201d. Half of the 2,060 people questioned were either strongly opposed to the theory or confused about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

12% opted for intelligent design and 10% opted for creationism. These figures sound bad, but in fact they are an improvement from a 2006 Ipsos MORI poll<\/a>, which found that 17% opted for intelligent design and 22% for creationism. The difference might be down to the way they phrased the question \u2013 it\u2019s hard to tell from the news reports.<\/p>\n

Regardless, I guess we should welcome the Theos campaign (funded, incidentally, by the Templeton Foundation) to persuade believers to accept evolution. Apart from this poll, their going to write an essay on why Darwin and religion are compatible, and commission some research into how creationists think. They\u2019ve even commissioned a PR company<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This poll is the first fruits of the Templeton Foundation\u2019s investment. It doesn\u2019t really help us much to understand why there are so many creationists in the UK. Hopefully they\u2019ll release the full survey results, with an analysis of the demographic factors linked to accepting evolution by natural selection. But in the meantime, here\u2019s my prediction about the characteristics of creationists and IDers: They\u2019ll be:<\/p>\n