This is how many Brits believe that evolution was part of God's big plan

God created the universe and evolution was just part of his plan.

At least, that’s what one in seven Britons think, according to a new poll.

As part of a range of polls on conspiracies, YouGov put the statement: “The universe was created by God in seven days and evolution was just part of His creation plan” to just over 2,000 Brits.

One in seven (14%) said the statement was probably or definitely true.

Seven in ten (&)%) said it was definitely false, with marginal variations across age groups. There was more variation by region, with more than one in five Londoners (21%) thinking the statement’s true, compared to one in 10 in the south-west and Scotland.

The theory is one of several discussed in a special two-part episode of Yahoo UK’s podcast, Britain Is a Nation Of...

Speaking on the episode, Penny Sarchet, news editor at New Scientist, said for a lot of people of faith, it’s not about evidence or facts.

“I don’t think for a lot of people who have faith that it actually comes down to facts and putting together evidence and working out what’s true,” she said.

“There’s something about religion and faith where it’s a spiritual thing and it’s a philosophy. I don’t think it’s quite the same as looking at a picture of a flag on the moon and thinking, ‘am I being lied to?’ It’s a different domain.”

Listen to "Britain Is A Nation Of..." on iTunes, Spotify, or aCast

But BBC science presenter and writer Dallas Campbell told the podcast he found it hard to “square that circle.”

Both agreed that there is a large body of evidence to support the theory of evolution and Sarchet added: “How humans came from just a few molecules floating around in a pond or ocean somewhere is one of the greatest things in science.

“Personally for me trying to work out how life began and became this complicated is just the biggest question in biology so to write it off is a bit of a shame.”

This survey was made possible by YouGov’s panel of 6 million respondents. Join the trend and share your opinions with the world today.