Despite the huge battle over the teaching of “intelligent design” creationism in 2005, a new survey shows that the majority of the people of Kansas are still in favor of teaching creationism in public school science classes: FHSU Learns ‘What Kansans Really Think’.

A majority of respondents, 53 percent, said they favored teaching both evolution and creationism in the public schools, while 18 percent said that neither theory should be taught. The remaining respondents were evenly divided between wanting one or the other of the theories taught exclusively.

And imagine my surprise to find that support for teaching creationism decreases with more education:

Preference for teaching both evolution and creationism was highest among respondents with some college, while those with graduate degrees were the most likely to prefer teaching evolution only.

This is a depressing snapshot of a terribly serious problem in the United States, which ranks at the very bottom of the world’s developed nations in acceptance of the scientific theory of evolution. Only Turkey has a lower score.