Yep, a recent Gallup poll shows that 80% of all Americans believe that god has guided man’s evolution in one manner or another. Those Gallup Poll viewpoints run the gamut from the moronic strict interpretation of the bible all the way to the pseudo-scientific intelligent design movement.  I’m not quite sure how god works in his mysterious ways and or why he takes a step back in addressing some of man ‘s other issues but Americans do overwhelmingly believe he is guiding our evolution.

These creationist Gallup poll results are not surprising when you realize that many Americans come from strong fundamentalist roots and, in general abhor, learning science. And,yes I do believe laziness and blind religious beliefs go hand in hand. Come on be honest; isn’t it easier to say god did it rather than to say Deoxyribonucleic acid?  Also, evolution and science have come under political attack as humanist ploys that undermine religious faith as the United States teeters between conservative and liberal factions.

By the way I do not consider myself to be a humanist but find that label to be far too restrictive so I instead consider myself to be a Sentientist, i.e. having respect for all living creatures. That’s a natural extension of my belief in evolution;  after all some transient hominid species  had to straddle the animal-human boundary during the course of our evolution.

What Creationism has to do with science well your guess is as good as mine and asking the average American to reconcile science and faith is an exercise in bemused frustration.

Here’s the Gallup Poll report: Most Americans believe in God, and about 85% have a religious identity. It is not surprising as a result to find that about 8 in 10 Americans hold a view of human origins that involves actions by God — that he either created humans as depicted in the book of Genesis, or guided a process of evolution. What no doubt continues to surprise many scientists is that 4 out of 10 Americans believe in the first of these explanations.

These views have been generally stable over the last 28 years. Acceptance of the creationist viewpoint has decreased slightly over time, with a concomitant rise in acceptance of a secular evolution perspective. But these shifts have not been large, and the basic structure of beliefs about human beings’ origins is generally the same as it was in the early 1980s.

Americans’ attitudes about almost anything can and often do have political consequences. Views on the origins of humans are no exception. Debates and clashes over which explanations for human origins should be included in school textbooks have persisted for decades. With 40% of Americans continuing to hold to an anti-evolutionary belief about the origin of humans, it is highly likely that these types of debates will continue.

For further details from this creationst Gallup poll go here:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/145286/Four-Americans-Believe-Strict-Creationism.aspx