“People who feel like they have no control over their lives are more inclined to believe in religion (and therefore ‘creationism’) than Darwin’s theory of evolution (‘darwinism’), as compared to people who feel they have control over their lives.”

This conclusion and the research leading up to it by Bastiaan Rutjens, Joop van der Pligt and Frenk van Harreveld of the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) is to be published next month in Deus or Darwin: Randomness and belief in theories about the origin of life. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 46, November 2010, pag. 1078-1080).

Darwin’s theory of evolution is a theory based on facts and is by no means complete, while the ‘theory’ of God having created the world is much older, a fascinating read with little or no facts. There is no clear winner, but then again maybe unicorns really exist too. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around how we’re able to send people to the moon, but still make crappy ballpoint pens that blob.

The research showed that one of the main reasons for rejecting the theory of evolution is its randomness. People who need control in their lives are not big fans of randomness and are more likely to adopt a theory with less randomness as supplied by most world religions. Oh and don’t forget the unicorns.

(Link: fmg.uva.nl, Photo: sunstonetours.wordpress.com)