Religiosity and evolution: Exploring Greek primary teachers’ attitudes toward theory of evolution

The primary objective of this study is to explore the relationship between religiosity and the acceptance of the theory of evolution (ToE) among Greek primary school teachers. A total of 282 in-service primary teachers participated by completing a questionnaire including two scales: the measure of acceptance of the theory of evolution (MATE) and the religiosity scale. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two distinct constructs: religiosity and acceptance of the ToE. The findings indicate a significant negative correlation between these two variables. Specifically, teachers with higher levels of religiosity tend to demonstrate lower acceptance of evolutionary theory, whereas those with lower religiosity are more inclined to embrace it. Notably, while most teachers (66.31%) exhibited high to very high acceptance of evolution, a substantial minority (33.69%) expressed moderate to very low acceptance, underscoring persistent attitudinal divides. These findings have important implications for science education in Greece, where addressing the influence of teachers’ religious beliefs is crucial to supporting the effective teaching of evolution in the classroom.