Palin's Creationism

There is a little splash today on the tidbit emerging from Palin's new book about her views on evolution. The response has overlooked the reality that beliefs are not that extreme, and might even fall in the center of the predominate views of U.S. Evangelicals.

Here is an excerpt from her rendering of a conversation with McCain adviser Steve Schmidt:

"But I believe that God created us and also that He can create an evolutionary process that allows species to change and adapt."

This suggestion that God set in motion some type of evolutionary process differs from the hard-line creationist stance. It deters from the Young-earth orthodoxy that resists any semblance of evolutionary theory in scientific understanding.

A Pew Forum report from 2006 found that a majority of white Evangelicals (65%) believe that humans have not evolved at all since their creation. Of those that allow for some evolution "over time" (28%) -- where Palin's statements seem to fall -- a bulk see a Divine hand behind these changes.

Her stance that creationism should be taught alongside evolution is also not atypical in Evangelical circles. Such a sardonic response from MSM (read: mainstream society) to these beliefs may serve to bolster the common Evangelical practice of viewing themselves as a prosecuted minority.