Belief in creationism is at its lowest in decades, according to Gallup poll

A survey conducted by Gallup has indicated that the percentage of American adults who believe that God created humans in their present form at some time within the last 10,000 years has reached a record low.

According to Gallup, 38 percent of American adults believe in creationism, while 57 percent believe in some form of evolution, whether guided by God or not.

Gallup noted that it is the first time since 1982, when the polling group first took the survey, that the belief in God's direct creation of man is not the most common response.

Overall, 76 percent of Americans still believe that God was involved in the creation of man, whether through an evolutionary process guided by God or through direct creation as depicted in the Bible.

There is less support for creationism among respondents with higher education levels. Twenty-one percent of those who believe in creationism have postgraduate educations compared with 48 percent of those with no more than a high school diploma.

Thirty-one percent of respondents who believe in evolution without God's involvement have postgraduate degrees, compared with 12 percent with a high school education or less.

Among Catholics, 45 percent believe humans evolved with the guidance of God, while 37 percent believe in the creationism.

Fifty percent of Protestants and other Christians believe that humans were created by God as they appear today, with 39 percent saying humans evolved with God's guidance.

Only nine percent of those without religious preferences said they believe in creationism, with 57 percent reporting a belief that does not involve God.

The poll was conducted on May 3 to 7 with a random sample of 1,011 adults living in the U.S.

Gallup also asked the respondents about their views on the Bible. The poll results indicated that only 24 percent of Americans admitted believing that the Bible is "the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word" — a record low in 40 years of surveys conducted by Gallup.

Twenty-six percent believe that the Scriptures are "a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man."

Gallup noted that nearly 40 percent of Americans have considered the Bible as the literal word of God between the mid-1970s through 1984, but the number has started to decline since that time.

Despite the decline, a vast majority of Americans still believes that the Bible is a holy document, with 71 percent believing that it is God-inspired if not God's actual words.