Does Evolution matter?: a case study in Brazil of the effects of an evolutionary-thinking academic atmosphere in postgraduate students' belief in God/religious belief

Abstract

Although the theory of evolution is more than 150 years old, a substantial proportion of the world population does not mention it when explaining the origin of human beings. The usual alternative conception is offered by creationism, one of the main obstacles to full acceptance of evolution in many countries. National polls have demonstrated that schooling and religiosity are negatively correlated, with scientists being one of the least religious professionals. Herein we analyzed both (1) the profile of 1st semester undergraduate students and (2), thesis and dissertations, concerning religious and evolutionary thoughts from Biology and Veterinary Schools at the largest university of South America. We have shown that students of Biology are biased towards evolution before they enter university and also that the presence of an evolutionary-thinking academic atmosphere influences the deism/religiosity beliefs of postgraduate students.

Eminent scientists reject the supernatural: a survey of the Fellows of the Royal Society

“…For example, evolution, stem-cell research, and cloning have been targeted, albeit in varying degrees and from different directions, by religious activists. Also, there is evidence that evolutionary thinking itself may shift scientists away from God-belief (Dias et al 2012;Leigh 2013). On the other hand, not since the time of Galileo have the physical sciences been threatened by religious dogma.…”

Evolutionary thinking among biology students in a third world country

“…Our results indicate that the national scenario is different from that of the USP firstperiod biology school. In fact, we found more Cr than Dias et al (2012) did in the veterinary school, a course without contact with the theory of evolution. Why are the national parameters of biology students so dissimilar from those from USP (in biology and veterinary)?…”

“…Paradoxically, this indicates that NaE is not the predominant explanation in students' views. Nevertheless, Dias et al (2012) interviewed students from the first graduation period from USP (University of São Paulo, Brazil), the largest university in South America, and found that the proportions of NaE, DGE, and Cr were 79.2, 19.8, and 1%, respectively. The authors compared these findings with those from the veterinary school of the same institution (49.1, 45.6, and 5.3%) and suggested that biology students are more prone to NaE even in early periods.…”

“…However, evolution is expected to be predominant in some groups such as college biology students, due to their close contact with this theory and high level of education (Dias et al 2012). Nevertheless, there is a lack of comparative studies with statistical analysis, sufficient sample sizes, and large geographic range, which hinders the understanding and decision-making of how and where to intervene (Nehm 2006;Lloyd-Strovas and Bernal 2012).…”

The anatomy of some orchid roots, the characterization of tomato mutants and the perception of evolution among graduate students

“…This comes particularly from the fact that religious groups have tried in different occasions to misrepresent the premises of the evolutionary theory, which was first published by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (e.g., Miller et al 2006, Dias et al 2012. Extremists even advocate that this discipline should not be taught in schools.…”