EVOLUTION AND THE POLLS

Public opinion polls have been repeatedly taken of parents, students, and teachers—and they have consistently responded that they want creation science taught in the schools of our land! This is science vs. evolution—a Creation-Evolution Encyclopedia, brought to you by Creation Science Facts.

CONTENTS: Evolution and the Polls

High-School Teachers: They want creation science to be taught
High-School Biology Teachers: They want creation science to be taught
Citizens and Parents: They want creation science to be taught
Adults: They want creation science to be taught
University Students: They want creation science to be taught
Scientists: They want creation science to be taught

This material is excerpted from the book, EVOLUTION AND OUR SCHOOLS.  An asterisk ( * ) by a name indicates that person is not known to be a creationist. Of over 4,000 quotations in the books this Encyclopedia is based on, only 164 statements are by creationists.
You will have a better understanding of the following statements by scientists if you will also read the web page, Evolution and Our Schools.

What do parents, teachers, and students want?

What do the people want? Public opinion surveys have been made at various times, and it is clear that, far and away, the American public wants all the evidence presented. A majority of them recognize that only to present the side of the evolutionists is not best for the good of society.

1: High-School Teachers

An opinion survey was taken of 400 high-school biology teachers.

"According to a survey of 400 high-school biology teachers conducted by two University of Texas (at Arlington) sociology professors, 30 percent believe in Biblical creationism. Nineteen percent believe that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time. The sociologists consider the situation `disastrous.' "—*Waco Tribune-Herald, September 11, 1988, p. 2E.

2: High-School Biology Teachers

A second teacher survey was made, this one also of high-school biology teachers.

"A survey of secondary-school biology teachers in Indiana showed that 173 out of 325 felt that evolution was a theory and not a fact, and 163 out of 330 thought that evolution should be presented as one of several alternate theories."—Jerry Bergman, "Attitude of University Students toward the Teaching of Creation and Evolution in the Schools," Origins, Vol. 6, 1979, p. 62 [survey: John C. Troost, "An Analysis of Factors Influencing the Teaching of Evolution in the Secondary Schools in Indiana," Ed. D. thesis, Indiana State University (1966)].

3: Citizens and parents

In two California school districts, citizens and parents were surveyed for their views on the matter.

"Many public opinion polls have shown that parents and citizens, in general, overwhelmingly desire both models [evolution and creationism] to be taught in the public schools rather than the present practice of teaching only evolution. For example, in 1973, in Del Norte County [California] Unified District, the following data was compiled in a random survey of 1,346 homes:

" `Should evolution be taught in the public schools?'—58 percent, yes; 34 percent, no; 8 percent, undecided.

" `Should creation be taught in the public schools?'—89 percent, yes; 8 percent, no; 3 percent, undecided.

"In Cupertino Union School District [California], this data was compiled in a statistically sound random survey of 1,995 homes:

" `Should scientific evidence for creation be presented along with evolution.'—84.3 percent, yes; 7.8 percent, no; 6.3 percent, uncertain; 1.6 percent, neither.

"A continuing random telephone survey is being conducted in many cities by the Institute for Creation Research Midwest Survey. The central question in this survey is:

" `Should evolution only, creation only, both evolution and creation, or neither evolution or creation be taught in the public schools?' Results compiled to date yield the following data:

"7 percent, evolution only; 18.9 percent, creation only; 64 percent, creation and evolution; 11 percent, neither evolution nor creation.

"While this data is limited, it nevertheless provides a good sampling of what adults feel is fair and proper for public schools."—"A Comparison of Students Studying . . Two Models," in Decade of Creation (1981), pp. 55-56.

4: Adults

In the 1970s, the Institute for Creation Research conducted two midwest American surveys of adults. Here is what the public wanted the public schools of America to teach:

Creation and evolution:
Survey 1—68% / Survey 2—72.6%

Creation only:
Survey 1—16% / Survey 2—12.6%

Evolution only:
Survey 1—5% / Survey 2—5%

No opinion:
Survey 1—11% / Survey 2—9%

Total creation only or creation and evolution:
Survey 1—84% / Survey 2—85.3%

Total:
Survey 1—100% / Survey 2—100%

The source for the above information is Jerry Bergman, "Attitude of University Students toward the Teaching of Creation and Evolution in the Schools," Origins, Vol. 6, 1979, p. 62.

Here is a summary of several other surveys taken of citizens, parents, teachers, and lawmakers:

"The general public certainly supports the trend: A massive majority (86% to 8%) of the national public supports teaching the theory of creation in public schools rather than just evolution (AP-NBC News poll), super-majorities agree (56% to 26%) and find dual instruction constitutional (63% to 26%) (American Bar Association-commissioned poll); majorities (80% at Ohio State, 56% at Oberlin) of university students at secular institutions agree (Fuerst, Zimmerman); two-thirds (67% to 25%) of public-school board members concur (American School Board, Journal poll); and a substantial minority (42.3% to 53.7%) of even public-school teachers favor the theory of creation over the theory of evolution (Austin Analytical Consulting poll)."—W.R. Bird, The Origin of Species Revisited (1954), p. 8.

Here is data from two other polls:

"The young age position is embraced by forty-four percent of the American public, according to a Gallop poll, and that near-majority is obviously not mostly Fundamentalist."—*44% Believe God Created Mankind 10,000 Years Ago, San Diego Union, August 30, 1982, Col. 1, p. 12.

"Instead, most support for the theory of creation is manifestly nonreligious because eighty-six percent of the American public supports its teaching."—*NBC News / Associated Press.

Bergman summarizes the various citizen polls in this way:

"According to all recent studies, the vast majority of the public favors teaching both creation and evolution in the schools."—Jerry Bergman, "Attitude of University Students toward the Teaching of Creation and Evolution in the Schools," Origins, Vol. 6, 1979, p. 63.

5: University students

Two surveys were taken of students at a university. This was a "longitudinal study," in that a number of years elapsed between the two polls. In this way an indication of changing student views could be obtained.

"The only longitudinal studies of which the author is aware indicate that the creationist explanation is growing in acceptance among college-age students. The percentage of students at Brigham Young University accepting the creationist' alternative to evolution was surveyed by Christensen and Cannon. They found that, in 1935, 36% of the students agreed with the statement: `Man's creation did not involve biological evolution,' compared to 81% in 1973. The Affirmative response to the statement, `The world's creation did not take millions of years' was 5% in 1935, compared to 27% for 1973. This is one of the most significant changes Christensen and Cannon found. The sample size was 1,159 for the 1935 study and 1,056 for the 1973 sample."—Jerry Bergman, "Attitude of University Students toward the Teaching of Creation and Evolution in the Schools," Origins, Vol. 6, 1979, pp. 62-63 [survey: Harold T. Christensen and Kenneth L. Cannon, "The Fundamentalist Emphasis at Brigham Young University: 1935-1973," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 17(1):53-58 (1978)].

Bergman himself conducted a survey at Bowling Green State University, in Bowling Green, Ohio:

"The result of the survey found that the clear majority of both undergraduate and graduate students taking biology classes favored the teaching of both theories of origins in the schools.

"Of the undergraduate students, a total of 91% felt that both the evolution and creation models should be taught in the schools. Of the graduate students, 71.8% felt that both models should be taught in the schools. Of the graduate sample, 21.1% felt that only evolution should be taught, compared to 6.1% of the undergraduate sample. This is a difference of almost 3.5 times. On the other hand, a small number of both samples felt that only creation should be taught; 2.9% of the undergraduate sample, compared to 7.0% of the graduate sample . .

"The undergraduate males were 2.5 times more likely to feel that only evolution should be taught, compared to females (11.0%, compared to 4.8%). On the other hand, interestingly, the undergraduate males were slightly more likely to want only creation to be taught: 4.4%, compared to 2.6%. As to wanting both models taught, again the percentage of females was higher (92.6%, compared to 85.6% for males).

"Relative to the respondents' belief structure, 7.9% of the undergraduates classified themselves as `atheistic evolutionists,' compared to 13.5% of the graduate students . . Approximately half of both the graduate and undergraduate students classified themselves as theistic evolutionists. In addition, 43.0% of the undergraduates classified themselves as either theistic creationists or pure creationists, compared to 35.2% of the graduate students.

"Thus, according to this survey, 89.4% of the undergraduates believed some form of creation, compared to 79.9% of the graduate students."—Jerry Bergman, "Attitude of University Students toward the Teaching of Creation and Evolution in the Schools," Origins, Vol. 6, 1979, pp. 64-66.

6: Scientists

Surveys have also been taken of scientists, and the result shows a far different viewpoint than the evolutionists suggest. Here is one of those polls:

"A poll published in the February 1988 issue of the professional magazine, Industrial Chemist, tells us what scientists really believe.

"According to the poll of professional scientists, over one-fifth—20.6 percent—completely reject evolution. Less than half of the scientists—48.3 percent—believe that it is even possible for man to have evolved from lower forms without supernatural intervention. Do the scientists think that scientific creationism is hurting science education? According to this poll, 39.9 percent say `No.' "—Paul A. Bartz, Letting God Create Your Day, Vol. 1, No. 3 (1990), p. 62.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

To the next topic in this series: COURT CASES: THE TEACHING OF CREATION IN THE SCHOOLS: Here is what the major court cases have decided.