There was a diary yesterday about attitudes towards religious people on Daily Kos. It set off a very extensive discussion which I found interesting. One of the issues involved was the political matter of people who want to promote the teaching of creationism in public schools as an alternative to the established biological theory of evolution.
There was a time in US history when many religious denominations were opposed to evolutionary theory on the grounds that it contradicted the teaching in the Bible that is in part the scriptural source for Christianity, Judaism and Islam. There was the famous Scopes trial that pitted William Jennings Bryant against Clarence Darrow. Most of America has moved on to a considerable extent since then. I started looking for something on the present state of opinion of people who are adherents to various religious traditions. I found this.
Which religious groups are Creationist?
It is reporting on a survey by Pew Research. The question being asked was do you agree that evolution is the best explanation for the origins of human life on earth. That is different from do you believe in creationism, but it does provide a fairly good approximation. We certainly can't conclude that all of the people who answered no to the question asked actively support the teaching of creationism in the schools, but we can see where the antagonism to evolution is concentrated. It is with the evangelical protestants, white and black, the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. These are not what have traditionally been considered to be mainstream religious traditions. They are people who know how to make a lot of noise and the leaders of the evangelical groups and Mormons are allied with various right wing political organizations.
Katharine Jefferts Schori, the current presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the US holds a PhD in oceanography. She did research in that field before entering a religious vocation. I'm quite certain that she accepts the theory of evolution and finds it compatible with her religious beliefs. She is just one particularly prominent example.
I was raised in the Southern Baptist Church and began to find many things about it objectionable as I came of age. I became an Episcopalian and found an atmosphere there in which I was more comfortable. I haven't been an active participant in that church for a long time. I simply reached a point at which I wanted to reduce my involvement with institutions, religious and otherwise. However, I still have very real respect for many people who I know who are active members. It is a church that has provided real leadership in the movement for LGBT rights. For that I am personally grateful.
My point here is that religious people come in all shapes, sizes and flavors. It is a serious distortion of reality to lump them all together.