While 85 percent of YEC pastors assert that “Christian disagreement on matters of creation and evolution is compromising our witness to the world,” 63 percent of TE pastors disagree with the statement. Meanwhile, 63 percent of TE pastors assert that “The church’s posture toward science prevents many non-Christians from accepting Christianity”, while 59% of their YEC and PC counterparts disagree.

 
American pastors have significantly different views on human origins based on where they live, according to new Barna Group research commissioned by BioLogos.

Somewhat predictably, pastors in the South are most likely to believe in young-earth creation (YEC), with 58 percent supporting YEC or leaning toward that position. But the regional stronghold of theistic evolution (TE) is not where you might think.

Pastors in the Midwest effectively tied the Northeast as most likely to believe in TE, whereas pastors from the West were least likely to support TE. (Other differences in clergy views can be found in the infographic below.)

Overall, the research results, based on interviews with nearly 750 pastors, shows that a slight majority (54%) of Protestant pastors across all regions most closely identify with YEC. One out of eight pastors were classified as “uncertain” about their beliefs. (Definitions of how theological positions were defined are at bottom of this post.)

Jesus Creed notes other interesting findings, including that pastors of very large churches are most likely to be uncertain of their beliefs on origins.

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