Most Britons reject creationism and intelligent design, says survey

A new survey from theology think-tank Theos has found that 80 per cent of people in the UK do not believe in creationism and intelligent design.

The two theories about the origins of mankind contend that God created man in the last 10,000 years. The same survey also showed, however, that nearly half the population believe that Christianity and evolution do not clash.

The think tank published its results on a “belief map” which show the breakdown of results in each area of the UK.

The survey of 2,060 people was prompted by the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the naturalist who penned the theory of evolution. The results of the survey revealed that almost half of British people did not know who wrote his book introducing evolution, ‘On the Origin of Species’.

Interestingly, the poll found that five per cent of adults believed Darwin to be the author of ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking, another three per cent thought he wrote Richard Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion’, whilst one per cent thought him to be the author of cookery book ‘The Naked Chef’.

Almost half of those questioned said that his theory of evolution challenged Christianity, but said it was possible to believe in both.

According to the survey most people in the UK reject ideas like creationism and intelligent design, with 83 per cent rejecting the former and 89 per cent the latter.

London is shown to have the highest percentage of people believing in creationism. While 17 per cent of people across the UK believe human beings were created by God in the last 10,000 years, in London the average is 20 per cent. Paul Woolley said the difference may lie in the growth of Pentecostal churches in London.

The survey also found the Northern Ireland had the highest percentage of people who believe in intelligent design (16 per cent) and creationism (25 per cent).

Woolley added, "The research clearly indicates there is a great deal of confusion about what people believe and why they believe it ... There are two lessons in particular that we can learn from Darwin. The first is that belief in God and evolution are compatible. Secondly, in a time when debates about evolution and religious belief can be aggressive and polarised, Charles Darwin remains an example of how to disagree without being disagreeable."