Mike Huckabee Does Not Believe in Evolution Alone

During the GOP debate, Chris Mathews asked who among the candidates did not believe in the evolution theory. Only three candidates raised their hands: Governor Huckabee, Senator Brownback, and Congressman Tancredo.

None were given the opportunity to explain their views, however, and many members in the main stream press and bloggers raised their eyebrows - as if believing in creationism is not a mainstream belief.

They're wrong.

A recent Newsweek survey presented people with three explanations for the origins of human life: that humans developed over millions of years, from lesser to more advanced forms of life, while God guided the process; that God played no hand in the process; and that God created humans in their present form.

The first option is a sort of hybrid creation-evolution theory. The second option is evolution as explained by science, and the third summarizes the idea of creationism.

Governor Huckabee clarified his position on evolution in the New Hampshire press the day after the debate, saying: "I believe that the creation has a creator. I believe there is a God. And I believe God put this whole creative process in motion. How he did it and the time frame in which he did it, I honestly don't know."

78% of respondents said creationism or a hybrid of creation-evolution most closely matched their beliefs.

Huckabee is not alone in that position. Nearly half the sample in the Newsweek poll, 48 percent, said the creationism option was closest to their beliefs, and 30 percent chose the hybrid option.

Just 13 percent of the sample chose evolution alone as the best approximation of their view of human development.

Those results have been mirrored in a series of Gallup polls that have asked nearly the same question at several points over the past 25 years. As recently as 2004 an ABC News poll found 61 percent said the creation story in the Bible -- that God created the world in six days -- is "literally true."

Not only that, but a Time poll conducted just last fall showed that 49 percent said it is possible to believe in both evolution and "divine creation by God."

ABC News provides more about Huckabee's position: Huckabee said he has no problem with teaching evolution as a theory in the public schools and he doesn't expect schools to teach creationism. "We shouldn't indoctrinate kids in school," he said. "I wouldn't want them teaching creationism as if it's the only thing that they should teach."

So, we ask you, who is not in the mainstream? Who did not raise their hands?

BSR

Excerpts from the Washington Post.