If we're talking about Christianity in particular, there's a divide between believing in the literal or figurative interpretations of the Bible. The literal in

If we're talking about Christianity in particular, there's a divide between believing in the literal or figurative interpretations of the Bible. The literal interpretation of the Bible is that the Earth is ~7000 years old and everything stated in the Bible is fact as written. The figurative interpretation isn't necessary inconsistent with things like evolution. The belief system simply switches to God triggering that process. In other countries, at least in my experience, the figurative interpretation is more dominant, particularly in developed nations. Religion isn't a militant political force and there are no serious attempts to equate creationism (aka "intelligent design") as science or otherwise equivalent to evolution. The US has a particularly problematic mix of factors that have become a problem for everyone: 1. The US has a problem with anti-intellectualism. I mean this came up in Kanye's recent meltdown. There was a clip from his interview tour that went something like "I don't see why I should have to understand or know anything". And that about sums it up. This isn't about being dumb or even ignorant. It's about being wilfully ignorant. This is a key driver for attacking public education; 2. The evangelicals are a particular militant and politically active sect that wish to dominate secular society. In many ways, they would like to hold the political power and position that the clerics of Iran hold in government. The history of this movement is interesting by itself. It evolved in the 19th century as the US expanded westward with homegrown preachers who really had no teaching or understanding of accepted Christian teachings, understanding and philosophy. Instead this was actively rejected. This led to other sects being formed, most notably the LDS Church (ie Mormons). These sects also have significant influence from American exceptionalism and white supremacy. 3. These sects teach a kind of theocracy where all authority is to be mistrusted and ignored except for the Church leaders. All of this is the perfect storm for political manipulation.