February 12, 2009
Fans of Charles Darwin are celebrating throughout the world today, on the naturalist's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his revolutionary "Origin of Species." Thousands will attend the 666 "Darwin Day" events in 44 countries, including a conference hosted by the Vatican in March. Each event is dedicated to the man who put scientific evidence behind the theory of natural selection and made it famous.
But despite the global hoopla celebrating his theory, Darwin's legacy - and full acceptance of his theory - is far from settled.
Only half of Americans accept evolution as the best explanation for the origins of human life on earth, according to a new report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The numbers drop even more when Americans are asked to leave God out the equation. Only 26 percent believe that life evolved solely through the processes of natural selection.
"Nearly as many Americans (21 percent) who accept evolution, believe in theistic or God-directed evolution," said Pew senior research fellow David Masci, who authored the report.
Masci isn't surprised by the figures. Although the theory of evolution has been widely presented in American schools since the late 1950s, many still reject the theory as contrary to Judeo-Christian teaching on the book Genesis.
"Americans are a very religious people. In addition, groups or denominations that are most likely to have trouble accepting evolution make up a substantial part of the population," he said. "[A]s our findings show, when science runs up against a religious teaching, religion tends to win, at least in the minds of people who are religious."
Among evangelical Protestants - who make up 26 percent of Americans - support for evolution through natural selection drops all the way to 21 percent. Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and mainline Protestants, however, have fewer problems integrating their faith with the theory. A total of 58 percent of Catholics, 54 percent Orthodox, and 51 percent mainline Protestants accept evolution as the best explanation for human life and origins.
But the battle isn't just faith vs. science. More than a third of those surveyed (38 percent) do not believe the scientific community is in agreement about evolution, leaving the theory open to criticism.
Even Americans who back the theory think the controversy should at least be acknowledged. A similar Pew Research Poll in 2005 found that 63 percent of Americans would like to see other origins theories, such as creationism, taught alongside evolution in the classroom.
Battleground: The Classroom
The lines between natural selection proponents and opponents are often drawn in the public schools. The famous Scopes "monkey" trial in 1925 challenged schools' ability to keep the theory out of their classrooms, and half a dozen cases since then have further solidified the theory's primary place in science classrooms.
The theory's real triumph came in 1968, with the case of Epperson v. Arkansas. For the first time, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Arkansas law which criminalized the teaching of evolution in public schools and state universities was unconstitutional. The court agreed that the law violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, as the law had a religious purpose in barring Darwinian thought from the public schools.
Since then, efforts to include "creation science" and "intelligent design" theories into science curricula have had an uphill struggle against the Epperson precedent.
"In the case of the courts, evolution opponents tend to lose because judges have, at least so far, seen their efforts as promoting religion, rather than trying to add to the scientific debate," Masci said.
Still, that hasn't stopped parents and teachers in recent years. The Pew report chronicles challenges in 14 states to win back equal time for other theories besides evolution, or even the ability to present criticism of it.
