In six out of ten countries including Argentina (57%), China (72%), Great Britain (62%), India (77%), Mexico (65%) and Spain (61%), the majority of people who had heard of Charles Darwin and know something about his theory of evolution agreed with the opinion that ‘enough scientific evidence exists to support Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution’, compared to an overall average across all the countries surveyed of 56 percent.
Less than half of those surveyed in Russia (48%), South Africa (42%), USA (41%), and Egypt (25%), who know something about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, agreed with the opinion that enough scientific evidence exists to support this theory.
The US is, as always, near the bottom of the pile when to comes to scientific literacy about evolution.
This next result, however, is puzzling:
In all countries surveyed more people showed some agreement than disagreement that ‘it is possible to believe in a God and still hold the view that life on Earth, including human life, evolved over time as a result of natural selection’. Adults in India showed the highest level of agreement (85%) from all the countries, followed by Mexico (65%), Argentina (62%), South Africa (54%), Great Britain (54%), Russia (54%), USA (53%), Spain (46%), Egypt (45%), and China (39%)...
The results also show that people polled in the USA, South Africa and India are the most likely to believe that life on Earth, including human life, was created by a God and has always existed in its current form (all at 43%).
So in India, 85% of the people believe that God and evolution are compatible, yet 43% of them thnk life has always existed in its current form?
It would be interesting to see a breakdown of these last numbers: how many people who reject evolution think God and evolution are incompatible? How many people who reject God think God and evolution are incompatible?
h/t National Center for Science Education.
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