Considering the intricacies and organisation of the universe and human life, even some nonreligious people cannot help but agree that there is a Creator behind everything.
A recent poll conducted by the Nashville-based LifeWay Research revealed that four out of 10 individuals from nonreligious groups attribute the world's creation to a Creator, while one-third from the same number believe that there is a Creator who defines what is right from wrong.
About 46 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement, "Since the universe has organisation, I think there is a Creator who designed it," while 40 percent disagreed.
Executive Director Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research said this is evidence of nonreligious Americans' belief in a being that is greater than mankind.
"People who seek to set out reasons to believe, often called apologetics, have historically framed their argument in similar ways," Stetzer said. "The large number of nonreligious people agreeing with some of these arguments points us to a surprising openness to classic apologetic arguments. Or, put another way, even nonreligious people are open to the idea there is a Creator."
The research was done on 1,000 Americans. LifeWay Research discovered that almost eight in 10 (or 79 percent) believe that human life exists because someone created it, while 72 percent credit the universe's design to a Creator.
However, only a smaller number think that people's moral values are a reflection of a Creator who defines the basis of morality. More than half (or 53 percent) disagree with the statement: "Since people have morality, I think there is a Creator who defines morality."
"Similar moral threads across cultures are evidence for many that someone has imprinted a common standard upon the human conscience," Stetzer said.
"However, it is worth noting the moral argument has less sway here, perhaps because of our changing views on what is and is not moral."
With regards to the statement, "The fact that we exist means someone created us," only 43 percent of atheists, agnostics, and those with no religious preference agreed while 48 percent disagreed.
"The existence of good and evil is difficult to explain from an atheistic worldview, because in that view, there is no stable external grounding outside of humans for a standard of goodness," Sharp said.
In contrast, Christians are thoroughly convinced that the world is proof of a Creator, with 91 percent of Christians and 95 percent of evangelicals attributing the existence of humanity to a Creator, while 81 percent of Christians and 85 percent of evangelicals credit a Creator for the structure of the universe.
As for moral values, 77 percent of Christians and 83 percent of evangelicals believe there is a Creator who defines right from wrong.
