Poll finds over half of Britons support teaching Creationism and Intelligent Design along with Evolution

The poll, which was part of a worldwide study into attitudes to the teaching on the origin of life on earth, saw 1,000 Britons questioned on the subject.

Around 54 per cent of those who responded said they thought teachers should talk about “alternative perspectives” to the Theory of Evolution, however only six per cent said they felt Creationism or Intelligent Design should be taught instead of Evolution.

Just over one fifth of respondents said that only the Theory of Evolution should be taught, as is currently the case under the national curriculum.

Creationism argues that life on earth came about as a result of the events described in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Intelligent Design is a more recent theory which holds that the universe is too complicated to have come about by accident and must have been made in some way by an intelligent designer.

Worldwide 10,000 were asked their beliefs in Argentina, Britain, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Spain. Only Mexico and Argentina had a higher percentage of respondents than Britain arguing for more teaching of Creationism and Intelligent Design.

As with Britain, around one fifth of people worldwide said that only Evolution should be taught, however significantly fewer, around 43 per cent, said that Creationism and Intelligent Design should be taught alongside Evolution.

The poll was published by the British Council as part of its Darwin Now programme, which marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.