ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the issue about origin of life and biological evolution: the hypotheses of Young Earth creationism and intelligent design. The data obtained in Brazil regarding this issue were compared with British results. Two categories were considered in the analysis of the respondents: religion and education. Velazquez describes in this chapter, the rejection of Darwinism in Brazil is a phenomenon which increased throughout the course of the nineteenth century. Even though Darwin and Wallace carried out research in this region for the development of their theory, when their ideas were published, the rejection in Brazil was intense. Brazil is predominantly Catholic and this religion did not have a strongly antagonistic attitude towards Darwinism. For a population that has religiosity as a central aspect of life, Darwinist ideas that clash with an accepted way of perceiving reality might cause a feeling of loss. This could then generate anxiety and opposition, as the numbers indicated throughout this study seem to reveal.