According to a recent opinion poll over half of British people do not accept Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution as the best explanation for the development of life on earth.
Over 40% of those who responded to the poll expressed the view that creationism or intelligent design (ID) should be taught in school science lessons.Ipsos MORI conducted the survey for the BBC’s Horizon series. Horizon last week aired a programme called ‘The War on Science’ on the attempt in the United States of America to have ID taught in science lessons.
Over 2000 people took part in the survey and were asked what best described their views on the origin and development of life on earth. 22% of respondents chose creationism, 17% believed ID best described the origins of life, whilst 48% believed the theory of evolution was most accurate. The remaining 13% did not know.
ID is based on the idea that there are some aspects found in living creatures which are so complex that they could not have been formed by a random process of natural selection, but by some “intelligent process”.
The editor of Horizon, Andrew Cohen said that: "I think that this poll represents our first introduction to the British public's views on this issue... Most people would have expected the public to go for evolution theory, but it seems there are lots of people who appear to believe in an alternative theory for life's origins."
The poll continued by providing three alternative views on the origins and development of life to participants (creation, ID and evolution), and asked which explanation(s) they wanted taught in science lessons in schools. 44% wanted creationism taught, 41% opted for ID and 69% for evolution.The poll found that the over-55 year-old respondents were less likely to choose evolution above creationism and ID.
Cohen continued, saying of the results: "This really says something about the role of science education in this country and begs us to question how we are teaching evolutionary theory,"
Members of the scientific community have expressed their surprise at the poll’s findings. The President of the Royal Society, Lord Martin Rees claimed that: "It is surprising that many should still be sceptical of Darwinian evolution. Darwin proposed his theory nearly 150 years ago, and it is now supported by an immense weight of evidence...We are, however, fortunate compared to the US in that no major segment of UK religious or cultural life opposes the inclusion of evolution in the school science curriculum."
Recently in the U.S.A. a high profile court case ruled that what has become known as the ‘ID movement’ is motivated by the desire to introduce God to the classroom. The case came about in Pennsylvania after parents took a school board to court. The parents demanded that the school should not be teaching evolution theory as fact in biology lessons.
