Bill Nye: Stop Teaching Creationism to Children

Poll Watch: USA Today/Gallup Survey on Evolution and Creationism

USA Today/Gallup Poll on Evolution and Creationism

Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings?

1) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process; 2) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process; 3) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 15%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 32%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 46%

Democrats

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 19%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 32%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 41%

Republicans

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 5%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 31%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 58%

Independents

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 19%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 34%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 39%

Attend Church Weekly

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 3%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 25%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 67%

Attend Church Almost Every Week/Monthly

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 10%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 31%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 55%

Attend Church Seldom/Never

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 26%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 38%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 25%

Postgraduate

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 29%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 42%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 25%

College graduate

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 14%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 35%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 46%

Some college

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 13%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 36%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 47%

High school or less

• Humans evolved, God had no part in process 11%
• Humans evolved, God guided process 25%
• God created humans in present form within last 10,000 years 52%

Survey of 1,012 adults was conducted May 10-13, 2012. The margin of error is ±4 percentage points.

Rick Santorum on Meet the Press

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rick Perry: The Anti-Establishment Clause Candidate

DES MOINES REGISTER: Just to clarify on this point, when you talk about a Day of Prayer, or permitting prayer in schools, are you talking specifically about Christian prayer, or are you saying non-denominational prayer?

PERRY: What I’m saying is it’s not the government’s business to be telling folks that, at the state level, if a – obviously, if a school is a Jewish school in Dallas, Texas, they should be able, I mean, that private school should be able to do that.

DES MOINES REGISTER: But, they can as a private school. The issue here has to do with public schools.

PERRY: Well, then, the independent school boards that oversee those [public schools] should make the decisions, not the government. Again, I mean, the idea that we have to be so politically correct that there’s one family that says, ‘Listen, I don’t want my child--,’ then that child ought to have the freedom to be, you know, can sit over there and play tic-tac-toe or what have you.  But the issue is that for Washington to tell a local school district that you cannot have a prayer and a time of prayer in that school, I think is offensive to most Americans. I trust the people of the states to make those decisions. I trust those independent school districts to make those decisions better than eight unelected and frankly unaccountable judges. And it’s one of the reasons that I’ve called for the end of lifetime appointments to federal judgeships, and go to some set term.

H/T: The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen:

Let’s count the errors of fact and judgment, because this a doozy.

1. There are nine Supreme Court justices, not eight.

2. When public school boards make policy decisions affecting public schools, that is “the government.” It may not be the federal government, but Perry is still calling for government officials — rather than families — to intervene in the religious upbringing of children.

3. Playing tic-tac-toe is very hard for one person to do by himself or herself.

4. In the United States, we don’t make decisions about religious liberty based on majority rule or popularity contests. Here’s a question for Perry to ponder: if an evangelical Christian family sent their daughter to a public school in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, would Perry want her to sit in a corner playing tic-tac-toe while the rest of the class prayed towards Mecca, or would he want the public school to remain religiously neutral?

Perry Flubs Justice Sotomayor's Name
GOP contender Rick Perry can't remember Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Impressed By 'Cultural Genius' of Herman Cain's Presidential Performance Art Project

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Cuba and Cain's "Foggy Foreign Policy"

Cain on Croquetas from Cafe Versailles: “How Do You Say Delicious in Cuban?”

A gaffe muy delicioso...en Español, Señor Cain.

Rubio Pulls a Palin, Promotes Anti-Intellectualism Ahead of Expertise

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy