How To Understand Four Views of How Things Came To Exist

There are at least four general views, or what might also be referred to as "beliefs", for how the universe, world and all living things came into being and came to be what they are in their present forms. The steps below help to give basic definitions of these four views. Also included, are recent statistics (where available) resulting from Gallup Polls, showing approximately what percent of the U.S. population holds to each view.

1. Creationist View - This one represents the view/belief that all living and non-living things are a direct creation by a supreme being. It also rejects the idea that things began to spontaneously evolve, following the sudden appearance of matter in the universe. This view is the most widely-held in the USA.

   The percentage of Americans who accept this view as the explanation for the existence of all things was 44% in the year 1982 (first poll conducted) and 45% in the year 2004 (most recent poll conducted). The highest percent of belief by Americans on this view, recorded among six Gallup Polls conducted over a 22-year period was 47% in 1993 and in 1999.
   
   

2. Theistic Evolution - This view holds to the belief that man and all other living things, evolved from lower forms or lower species to become what they are today, but that this process was guided by an intelligent being. The start of the process, often referred to as "the big bang theory" is also considered to have been caused by this intelligence as believed by many who hold to this view-category. This is the second most widely-held view by Americans.

   Charles Darwin, the Naturalist who was largely responsible for the development of "The Theory of Evolution" and "The Theory of Natural Selection", expressed belief in this view as a "Theist" (belief in a deity). His statements to this effect were recently published in his autobiography, authorized for release by Darwin's son.

   Gallup polls from 1982 and 2004 both reveal that approximate 38% of Americans accept this view. The number reached as high as 40% in 1999.

3. Naturalistic Evolution - With this view, those who hold to it believe that an evolutionary process of advancing species occurred from less advanced ones, to more advanced ones, but that there was no intelligence guiding this process. It is the third most widely-held view that explains the existence of all things, by the U.S. public.

   This view is held by the lowest percent of Americans but is more widely accepted by the scientific community that largely looks at laws of physics, with philosophical and religious views being considered outside of the physics-realm. 

   Americans polled by the Gallup organization in 1982 revealed that this view was held by approximately 9% of them. This number increased to 13% in 2004 with other years involved in the over two-decades of intermittent polls showing 11% in 1993, 10% in 1997, 9% in 1999 and 12% in 2001.

4. Panspermia - This view is mostly in regard to the evolution of human beings and it proposes that mankind may have been "seeded" here on Earth many thousands or many millions of years ago, by extraterrestrial life forms (those in space, outside of our planet). It proposes that mankind evolved once the matter required was placed on Earth for the process to begin. One well-known evolutionist - Richard Dawkins, author of the book "The God Delusion" among many other titles, has expressed his belief in this possibility for explanation of human life on planet Earth.

There have been no Gallup polls conducted to-date regarding this view/belief or by other polling organizations that have been published. This view would likely be represented by a low percentage of the general population of Americans.