Unsworth, A;
Voas, D;
(2018)
Attitudes to evolution among Christians, Muslims and the Non-Religious in Britain: Differential effects of religious and educational factors.
Public Understanding of Science
, 27
(1)
pp. 76-93.
10.1177/0963662517735430.
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Abstract
According to poll results and media reports, Britain has a significant and growing number of creationists. However, little scholarly research has been carried out to explore this phenomenon. We present results from a national survey of 6020 individuals to give a comprehensive picture of contemporary public attitudes to evolution in Britain. Furthermore, we explore the effects of religion and education on attitudes to evolution. Unique to this study, we analyse the effects of attending a religiously affiliated school (‘faith school’) on acceptance of evolutionary theory. We examine these effects in the general population, and additionally, across different Christian, Muslim and Non-Religious subpopulations. Results give strong evidence that the number of creationists has been overstated previously. We find the effect of education is complex and varies between different religious groups, but that faith school attendance is associated with more acceptance of evolution for people belonging to groups that tend to reject it.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Attitudes to evolution among Christians, Muslims and the Non-Religious in Britain: Differential effects of religious and educational factors |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0963662517735430 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662517735430 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Christian, creationism, evolution, media and science, Muslim, Non-Religion, public understanding of science, science and religion, science education, science in schools |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Science and Technology Studies |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1575403 |
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