Not surprising but still sad:

Students’ Religiosity More Influential Than Education in Views on Evolution

College students’ views on evolution are shaped significantly more by religiosity than education, according to a survey of Southern students.

The study, said to be the first in-depth analysis on the acceptance of evolution in this region, has been accepted for publication in the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach.

[The survey] used data gathered from questionnaires answered by approximately 3,000 UA students.

“Religion is much more important than all the other measured educational variables, combined, in influencing their views on evolution,” said [author] Rissler.

Most previous studies on evolution views were done in the Midwest and Northeast, Rissler said, and hearing many of her students say the topic was avoided in their high-school science classes helped prompt the study, she said.

“I’ve had many, many students who have said, ‘We didn’t talk about it at all. My teacher literally said, I’m taking this section, and we’re moving on because I’m not dealing with it.’”

The study also looked at whether students’ acceptance of evolution increased following exposure to the topic in college classrooms.

“The only group of students who improved in their acceptance of evolution was the group of students who were the least religious,” Rissler said.

The degree of religiosity among surveyed students was based on self-reported frequency of church attendance. […]

Other survey results included: science majors were more accepting of evolution than non-science majors; students who were taught evolution or neither evolution nor creationism in high school had significantly higher acceptance rates of evolution than those taught both evolution and creationism or just creationism; and many religious students appeared to reject evolution because of their faith even though they understand that the scientific community accepts evolutionary theory as valid.

This is America, 2014.