Sooners of two minds on teaching evolution

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A new Oklahoma Poll shows more Oklahomans want the biblical version of human creation taught in schools than believe the story themselves. <br><br>Oklahomans split evenly among those

Thursday, April 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A new Oklahoma Poll shows more Oklahomans want the biblical version of human creation taught in schools than believe the story themselves.

Oklahomans split evenly among those who described themselves as believing in strict biblical interpretation of human creation (31 percent), believing humans evolved without divine intervention (31 percent) and believing humans evolved with divine guidance (32 percent).

But when it comes to public school curriculum, 38 percent said creationism should be taught to the exclusion of evolution, while 3 percent said evolution only should be taught.

Teaching evolution with God was recommended by 27 percent, and teaching all three perspectives was recommended by 14 percent.

The poll, sponsored by the Tulsa World, was March 24 through April 2 by Tulsa Surveys. The survey of 750 Oklahomans has a 3.5 percentage point margin of error.

Al Soltow, director of research at the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma Poll consultant, said the biggest discrepancy was in responses from outside the Tulsa and Oklahoma City metropolitan areas.

While 31 percent of these Oklahomans described themselves as creationists, nearly 44 percent said they wanted it taught in the public schools to the exclusion of evolution.

Similarly, 31 percent of them said they personally believed humans evolved over millions of years without divine involvement, but only 2 percent of them wanted that taught in the public schools.