The original question was:
Would you happen to know what approximate percentage of scientists believe in creation? This information would help me in my discussions with atheists.
Answer by John Mackay and Diane Eager
Two issues arise here: Firstly we recommend that you don’t use the argument about how many people accept creation, since nothing becomes correct simply because enough people believe it, and nothing is false because the majority say so. Truth is never determined by a democratic vote, so the issue of majority vs minority is irrelevant. This is the same issue as the often asked question about the lack of creation based articles in peer reviewed journals. When something is true, it does not cease to be true because science journals and the popular media refuse to publish it, or the mainstream scientific community refuse to discuss it, and a lot of atheists declare to be nonsense. If something is false, it will never be made true by being said by a professor, written in a well known journal, or proclaimed in popular media.
Peer review and popular proclamation are no guarantee of truth. They merely indicate the reviewers and journalists agree with the original authors, or at least think their ideas should be discussed seriously.
Secondly, in our experience travelling around the world to many universities and institutions, we meet many more creationists than you will ever hear about, especially as many do not want to publicly admit to belief because of the strong prejudice against creation in academic circles. So any numbers used in media surveys will be way below the real figure.
Finally, just as truth is not determined by a vote, it is likewise not determined by classifying some types of knowledge as religious and others as scientific. This means it is irrelevant what type of qualifications (science, theology, etc.) people have, or whether they have any formal qualifications at all. If something is true, it will remain true even if no-one with a science degree believes it. The real issue in the creation/evolution debate is not science versus religion, but truth versus error.
Related question: Why are there no published papers in peer review journals supporting creation or ntelligent design? Answer here
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