Americans Generally Find the Devil More Believable than Evolution

Maybe you would be surprised to learn this; maybe not. A recent Harris poll released near the end of November indicates that in the United States more people believe in the existence of a literal hell and the devil than believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution. Despite the fact that the religious liberals and atheistic intellects are fighting against traditional Christian doctrines and are making light of those of us who believe in the Bible, the majority of Americans still hold to some foundational biblical truths. In a poll conducted between November 7 to 13 among 2455 U.S. adults, 82 percent stated that they believed in God. Also, 79 percent said they believe in miracles, 75 percent believe in heaven, and 72 percent believe that Jesus is God or the Son of God. Additionally, a full 62 percent stated they believe in hell and the devil. Surprisingly to some, Darwin’s theory of evolution met with far more skepticism. Only 42 percent of the survey respondents believe in Darwin’s theory. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus two percent.

As might be expected, the poll revealed that trends of belief wavered accordingly between various religious groupings. Born again Christians expressed the strongest biblical beliefs indicating that 95 percent believe in miracles and only 16 percent believe in evolution. Catholics polled, by comparison, indicated that 87 percent believe in miracles and 43 percent believe evolution. Protestants in general stated that 89 percent believe in miracles, whereas 30 percent believe in evolution.

A couple of facts should be remembered in consideration of these statistics. First, not all of the respondents of the survey classified themselves as born-again Christian, Protestant, or Catholic. Second, one must acknowledge the fact that these statistics do not confirm anything about an individual in terms of whether that person honestly lives up to his or her self-acclaimed category. For example, a person may say she is a born again Christian, and rarely attend church, or a person might claim to be Protestant and go more often to a Catholic church. However, assuming that most people believe and respond according to the category by which they assign themselves, we can draw some interesting conclusions.

The fact that 82 percent of the people of America claim to believe in God (a figure that did not change since Harris conducted a similar poll in 2005) does not tell us what they mean when they say they believe in God. Belief in God is not the same for all people. Some people believe in the God of the Bible. Muslims will typically believe in a God called Allah. People who claim to adhere to the New Age movement may claim they believe that God is some “cosmic consciousness” or “natural energy force” in the universe. However, in light of the fact that so many indicate they believe in heaven, in miracles, and yes, even in the devil and hell, there is a strong indication that perhaps the majority would claim to believe in the God of the Bible. However, there is another fact that made news headlines regarding this poll. There are a larger percentage of Americans who believe in the devil and hell than believe in evolution. Some would insist that this is because the majority of Americans are not well educated. I don’t believe that is true. I believe that Americans still have a stronger faith in traditional Biblical beliefs and common sense ideas than in the popular scientific opinions. These two foundations for American values cannot be ignored.

First, I believe Americans in general, are not letting go of some of their traditional beliefs and values which have been derived from the Christian Bible. This is not to say that the majority of Americans still read the Bible frequently, or attempt to adhere to its commandments, but in the backs of their minds, they still tend to believe in many of its values and teachings. Deep down, people know there is a God and a heaven, and yes, they even know there is a hell and a devil.

Second, I believe that Americans still tend to trust their “gut instinct” of common sense ideas. True, evolution is taught largely as factual science in many, if not most of the schools in America. Despite this fact, to the majority of Americans, believing evolution does not make sense. There are several reasons for this: In the 150 years since evolution has been touted as a scientific belief system, not one new species has ever been seen to evolve. There is a massive lack of transitional fossil forms. Of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fossils that have been found, none have been shown to be a true transitional form between one species and another. Finally, life is too complex and fantastic in design to have “evolved” by chance, even through “natural selection.” I remember what one older pastor friend of mine said for years, ‘My ancestors never swung by their tails! They might have swung by their necks, but they never swung by their tails!” “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1-2)

 

James Sanders

Pastor,

sandersjc@yahoo.com