As academics and scientists mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth on Thursday, a new poll says only 39 percent of Americans believe in evolution, a topic of contentious debate among "biblical literalists" and those against teaching creationism in public schools.

Darwin published his "On The Origin of Species" in 1859, causing controversy over its proposition that humans evolved from animals, specifically apes.

Despite what academics say are compelling scientific evidence, evolution is still an acrimonious issue to this day. But "evolutionary scientists with a religious background still reject the idea that life is 'a universe without design' or purpose,"author and college professor Mark Skousen writes in the weekly conservative magazine "Human Events," citing biologist Richard Dawkins.

"They prefer a 'divine' watchmaker over a 'blind' watchmaker, and note the vast superiority of intelligent-thinking and purposeful-acting man compared to other animals," he adds.

Texas state Sen. Rodney Ellis and state Rep. Patrick Rose in an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle on Thursday criticized the State Board of Education for "continu[ing] to engage in narrow theological debate about the validity of evolution." The board, which held public hearings last month on new science curriculum standards, is scheduled to vote in March how should be taught in elementary and secondary schools.

According to Gallup, only 39 percent of Americans "believe in the theory of evolution," while 25 percent say they believe in it. Thirty-six percent have no opinion either way.

The poll found a direct relationship between belief in evolution and education attainment. Only 21 percent of those who high school education or less believed in evolution. The belief in Darwin's theory rises among those with "some college" education, to 41 percent, college graduates, to 53 percent, and finally those with postgraduate degrees, to 74 percent.

Conversely, the poll found that people who regularly attended church were least likely to believe in evolution. Only 24 percent of people who attend church weekly do so. The number rises to 30 percent among those who go to church "nearly weekly/monthly," and to 55 percent among those who "seldom/never" attend church.

"As Darwin is being lauded as one of the most important scientists in history on the 200th anniversary of his birth, it is perhaps dismaying to scientists who study and respect his work to see that well less than half of Americans today say they believe in the theory of evolution, and that just 55 percent can associate the man with his theory," Gallup's Frank Newport said in the poll.

Susan Jacoby, best-selling writer and well-known secularist, made the case for Darwin in a Washington Post-Newsweek blog on religion called "On Faith."

"For religious believers who interpret sacred writings as a metaphor for spiritual truth rather than as a literal description of how the world works, there is plenty to talk about," she wrote. "It does not enhance human dignity one bit to find a 'spiritual' explanation for our higher mental functioning; nor does it decrease human dignity to look upon our highest achievements as part of nature, inexorably tied to the body that is ours for a finite period. This finiteness renders life more, not less, meaningful."