On Darwin’s Birthday, Only 4 in 10 Believe in Evolution

Consider this latest Gallup poll: On Darwin’s Birthday, Only 4 in 10 Believe in Evolution. On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, this current Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans say they 'believe in the theory of evolution,' while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36% don't have an opinion either way. These attitudes are strongly related to education and, to an even greater degree, religiosity."

As explanatory theories go, evolutionary theory still is weak. We do have descriptions of morphological changes in various species' genotypes but not the specific mechanism producing those change.

What we can agree on is that some kind of evolutionary process is producing changes in the species. What we can't agree to is that this is due to chance mutation, or creationism, or intelligent design, or some other theory. So long before we begin discussion of exactly how a species changes and develops its hereditary structures, we first need to agree that there is a long filiation of various forms each species has undergone up to their present forms. Once we have descriptions of the stages of these changes, then we can ask the deeper question of how exactly those morpholgcal structures were transformed, i.e., changed from a less adaptive form to one more adaptive.

So a question about whether one believes in evolution is a bit vague. Do we mean the appearance of various forms of species leading up to the present or do we mean the mechanism by which those changes are produced? If someone asked me if I believe that the species of undergone constant transformation of their hereditary structures, I would say, "yes." If the question is do I believe the mechanism producing this gradual morphological change over time is chance mutation and selection I would say "no". I do not believe our best scientific explanation of the mechanism of evolution is chance mutation that is then selected by the environment any more than I believe that any other progress is due to random chance trials that are then confirmed by some outside agencies. But do I believe that the species are evolving. My answer would be, "Of course." So to refer to "believe in evolution" simply isn't very clear.