Most Alabamans Surveyed Trust Bible's Creation Account Over Darwin's
by Jim Brown
December 9, 2005
(AgapePress) - - A new poll shows more people in Alabama adhere to the biblical account of creation than to Darwin's theory of evolution. Of the more than 400 Alabamians surveyed between November 28 and December 1, about three out of four identified themselves as "born-again Christians." The survey conducted by the Mobile Register and the University of South Alabama found that about 70 percent of the state's residents believe creationism and intelligent design should be taught in public school science classes. Fewer than half of those polled said the theory of evolution should be taught in schools.
Dale Younce, a Christian Studies professor at the University of Mobile, says he was "delightfully surprised" by the survey's findings. The result is particularly unexpected, he asserts, considering that evolutionism "holds the floor" in secondary and higher education classrooms, even in Alabama.
"I would like to think that the conservative Baptist churches throughout the state have an effect in causing the church members to think thorough the question of creation and evolution, but I have no evidence to support that," Younce says. Personally, he feels both creation and evolution should be taught in science classrooms nationwide.
"If you're going to work in any kind of scientific circle, you've got to know the world in which we live here," the religion scholar says. "You've got to know -- not necessarily believe in, but know -- the mechanics of the evolutionary theory. So I have no objection to teaching students evolutionary theory; [but] let's just teach it as it is: as a philosophy and a way of thinking, and not something based in fact."
The Alabama Board of Education recently voted to retain an insert for state biology textbooks that refers to evolution as a "controversial theory" on the origins of life.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
