Support for school religion

People are less concerned about keeping religious teaching out of schools than some may think, a survey shows.

A NZ Listener/TNS survey showed more than half of those surveyed thought schools should teach that "a divine being or god was responsible for creating our celestial home" and about a quarter believed the Earth was created by God in six days.

The survey of 1000 people suggested many might be comfortable with religious theories being part of the curriculum.

Of those surveyed one-third were "divine interventionists", who believed all changes in the natural world were directly due to divine intervention by a god or superior being.

Sixty per cent followed Charles Darwin's theory that natural selection and the survival of the fittest was scientific fact.

When asked if the interventionist theory should be taught in schools, more than half agreed it should against 41 per cent who said no. About 77 per cent thought Darwin's theory was suitable to be taught.

- NZPA