Creation/Evolution and the American Mind

Clearly the American populace is confused when it comes to the issue of Creation and Evolution.

The results of a USA Today/Gallup Poll make this absolutely clear.

Think of these responses:

53% of Americans (according to the poll) believe that Evolution did occur, while 44% say no it didn't.

but:

66% of Americans say that we were created much like we are today within the last 10,000 years.

Now, I'm no math wizard (took algebra in 9th grade), but I see a major discrepancy here. How can 53% of Americans say they believe in evolution, while 66% say everything happened by divine decree within the last 10,000 years. Simply won't work. My sense is that either people don't understand the questions or they don't understand the terms.

But 82% of respondents say they understand what evolution is and 86% say they understand the meaning of creationism.

What all this suggests to me is that people are caught between categories and really don't understand the terms. Consider Sam Brownback's recent op-ed piece. He says he's for evolution within species, but not across species lines (micro versus macro). His op-ed piece suggests he doesn't understand the terms. Then Mike Huckabee made it clear that he believes in creation, but wasn't willing to lay his life down for a date. He gave as his possible alternatives a literal 6,000 year process or a day-age theory. Not surprising considering he's a conservative Southern Baptist.

All of this shows we need to do a better job teaching science and also helping people understand what creation means. I mean I can say I'm an evolutionist and a creationist both -- and my sense is that people want to believe this to be the way it is!