About 40 percent of Americans belie...

About 40 percent of Americans believe in the universal of human evolution, less than the proportion of Europeans and Japanese who accept the biological principle, according to a reflection to appear in the journal Science.

About 80 percent of the populations of Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and France believe that humans evolv from earlier forms of life, according to the investigation which will be published in the journal's online edition today. solely Turks, at 27 percent, accept evolution les commonly than Americans, according to the consideration

Jon Miller, who l the research while he was a professor at Northwestern University's medical academy in Chicago, said politics plays a part in to what end fewer Americans believe in evolution. Republican platforms in seven states in the 1990 included demands that drills teach "creation science," a biblical interpretation of the origin of the universe; no major European political parties advocate similarly.

"We have politicized it in a way that no other political connected view has," said Miller, who is now a professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing. "In doing that, we have legitimized the ability to debate it in ways that would not ever be acceptable in Germany and France."

The higher percentage of Catholics in Europe also may account for increased acceptance of evolution there, Miller said. Evolution is compatible with Catholic and mainstream Protestant teachings that are predominant in Europe while the United States is domestic circle to more fundamentalist Christians, Miller said.

The investigation was based on data garner uped by the European Commission and contemplates Miller conducted.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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