Can someone be religious AND believe in evolution?

Answer 1

No --- religious? ------NO

Spiritual??? Yes

Answer 2

Why not, all it takes is an open mind?

Concerning the debate going on about intelligent design and evolution: is it possible that the final answer about which of these two seemingly opposite ideas is correct could simply be yes?

With one position firmly held by the believers and the other just as fearlessly defended by the non-believers, if you happen to be in a position somewhere near the middle, it does not look all that complex. From this position, you wonder why either-or has to be the answer.

If you believe that some higher being created the universe by intelligent design, what more elegant and intelligent design could there have been than a self-regulating system that continually checks its own errors and makes its own corrections in mid-stream as an integral part of the process.

This all seems quite logical to me although it probably won’t satisfy the believers because they are afraid to see any truth other than the one they have been told to believe in. Inversely it certainly won’t satisfy the non-believers because it leaves them stuck with a god that they are so obviously terrified of.

To sum up this view from the center, it might be most easily be explained by saying perhaps the designer was intelligent. Problem is, the designer was likely so intelligent that those seeking to prove that it is intelligently designed may be incapable of ever understand it well enough to see it for the elegant self regulating design that it has always been.

The nonbelievers will be similarly handicapped due to the internal terror the have about the idea that there may be a God. Neither side being able to leave their entrenched position for fear they may have to admit they were wrong. While the rest of us stand by trying to figure out what all the fuss is about. Personally I don’t think anyone is wrong, I just feel both sides are about half right.

Love and blessings
don

Answer 3

A fairly common question - short answer no. Longer answer is yes, they can, if they don;t believe that man evolved from monkeys because the bible tells us otherwise. Howvere, there is a smaller form of evolution happening right now, which is just animals - and even humans - changing miniscule details every generation to better adapt to the world. This kind of evolution is believed b y many religios people, but no, it's not really possible for one to believe we CAME from evolution, because then we would be disbelieving the bible, and a true christian believes all of the bible.
Science and reliion can tie in together - they usually contradict each other, but i have a scientist who goes to my church, so i guess it's possible.
Hope this helps.

Answer 4

yes. you can be religious and believe in evolution. but that would be because that is what you have been taught to be true, and you are not aware of the conflict....evolution is not true.. there is no honest evidence for it , and what had been presented in the past was proven to be fraudulent. alot of people do not know that.... most scientists who are aetheists go along with evolution since they do not believe in a creator, not because there is evidence for evolution.... the fossil record, dinosauers, etc can all be explained by the Noah's flood. and there is evidence for that sitting on top of mt ararat in turkey. I do not think it is a major crime to god if you think he used evolution to create ..or he just created.... this is more of a science debate than a religious one.

marianne
biochemist

Answer 5

Not really. Yes and no. I started out as a fervent christian but gradually came to understand evolution. Notice I said "understand" it.
If you "believe" in evolution, then it is because you really don't understand it. The vast majority of people, probably including you local high school biology teacher, do not understand evolution well. They don't have a good enough background, and they're not willing to let go of their preconceived notions and get into the research with an open mind. With that lack of knowledge, they are then reduced to "believing" or "not believing" in evolution. I don't "believe" in evolution. After taking many courses in biology, the sciences, and evolution itself, I have come to a thorough understanding of it and I have come to logically accept it as a fact. That's not the same as believing. When you get to that point, I have to say it erodes your faith and it's difficult to be religious.
However......if you don't really understand evolution well and you just "believe" it........then you can believe anything. You can "believe" in evolution, and in Jesus, and in miracles and the tooth fairy and Santa and whatever else.

Answer 6

Yes, but a specific kind of evolutional theory called "intelligent design". It's basically a cop out so that the totally logical and sensible Darwinian evolutional theory somehow fits in with divine planning and the whole god created the world/universe in 7 days.

Answer 7

Well good question. Evolution contridicts the bible though. I suppose you could be a christain and believe a lie but finding the truth is what being a being a christain is all about. Evolution is simply a theory not science fact as we have been taught. It not even a good theory and it can not be proven.

Answer 8

Yes, You can be religious and believe in anything, however if your are a Christian and know Jesus as Lord and Savior you will believe in the Almighty God and none of the evolution junk

Answer 9

Einstein is just one of millions of prominent scientists over the years that have supported the theory of Intelligent Design, but he is perhaps the best known. In an article in "Science, Philosophy and Religion, A Symposium," (see LINK below) Einstein said, "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

In the last paragraph of his essay, "The World as I See It," Einstein wrote, "I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence - as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature." While Einstein referred to the Designer as "Reason" rather than "God," his writings make it very clear that he believed that an intelligent Designer crafted our universe and all that is within it.

On the other hand, Darwin postulated that all life somehow crawled out of primordial ooze and miraculously became differentiated as mammals, reptiles, fish, fowl and so on. It seems that such a far-fetched theory would require much more faith than simply believing that God did what He said He did inGenesis: He created everything according to His plan.

Answer 10

True religion does not contradict true science and vice versa.
There are people quarelling about evolution and intelligent design because they don't seriously learn to know exactly what are the real values of those two things. And both sides are so fanatic that they want to ban the other one from schools. The world's future seems gloomier because of this fanaticism.
It is the same way with people quarelling about materialism and spiritualism, about East superiority and West dominance, about black beauty and white handsomness, about crazy-ism and lazy-logy, about fancy-doctrines of these groups against imaginary-theories of other communities... without end!
Please spend just a moment to ponder by yourself about how to get out of this mess and seek the truth for yourself. God promises salvation to all mankind, but attainment to salvation is the destiny and choice of each individual.
Please remember, we come to this world one by one, so we must leave it one by one. Anybody can do the boastful shouting, but no one can carry another one to the heaven of divine knowledge.
Please think the unthinkable and rethink the thinkable.

Answer 11

There are lots of Christians that also believe in evolution, meaning the variation of different kinds of animals (spaniel, hyena, coyote, wolf--all dogs). I count myself among them. After all, that's observable.

There are other Christians who are bona fide Christians that view the Bible--especially the Old Testament--as allegorical and believe in evolution from "amoeba to me" meaning giant leaps of evolutionary change. I do not count myself among them.

Belief in the original "Creation" story is not a requirement to be a Christian. I personally think it is important, others do not. But it certainly is not a "requirement" of sorts.

And there are other religions outside of Christianity that absoloutely alllow for belief in evolution.

So, yes, you can be religious and believe in evolution.