The New York Times has reported on a poll released yesterday (August 30th) by the Pew Research Center For the People and the Press.  The poll says, in short, that the majority (64%) of Americans want creationism taught alongside evolution in public schools.  Fully 36% favor replacing evolution with creationism.  Wow.  And while about half of those polled believe "humans and other living things have evolved over time," many of these still think public schools should present Creationism as well.

All the evolutionist scientists out there will at this point be crying, "Foul!" and arguing for the academic ignorance of the American public.  Does the American public care?  Apparently not.  The poll finds that only one-fourth of these good folks think scientists should have the primary say in how evolution is taught in schools.  41% think parents should have that advantage.

 The report also notes that Americans may be a bit confused over the terms "evolution" and "creationism."  I can understand why this would be the case, because "evolution" can mean big-bang to microbe to modern man, or it can mean wolf to bulldog.  Almost all creationists believe that a limited form of evolution takes place through natural selection, but not all of the public realizes this.  However, in terms of public school curriculum, the public most likely has origins, not modern natural selection, in mind.

Another interesting point is that while evolutionists were clearly more likely to cite "education" as the most important factor in developing their opinion of origins (creationists cited religion), they were much less likely that creationists to express confidence in their views.

Does that mean a lot of people believe in evolution without knowing how it's possible?