Why do christians dislike the theory of evolution so much?

Question

one of my friend got really pissed at me for telling her about the theory of evolution after my bio class saying "ITS JUST A THEORY!" and the other keep inviting me to seminars like "evolution vs creationism" despite countless times which when i come out... i still favour evolution more.

I personally think that the theory is completely elegant and explains alot of things in life. but if they don't like it.. why also try to get me out of it? I don't get it.

doesn't evolution make sense in christainity? why hate it so much when it explains the world of biology?

Answer 1

The reason it is hated is because it suggests that humans weren't made (and certainly not by a god) but evolved from lower primates.

This says that humans are simply animals, which isn't liked by religious groups who consider humans to be something special.

Evolution doesn't leave much room for a god and so it is seen as competition to religion.

Religion requires faith and science requires evidence and both sides have enough faith and evidence to back up their own claims.

The 'It's just a theory' argument doesn't hold much water with me though, because everything is just a theory within science. We don't actually KNOW anything for a 100% because our fundamental knowledge may be flawed. But that is the beauty of science, the fact that we can take all available evidence and construct a best fitting model. If we find a model that fits the observed data better, then that becomes the current theory.

These theories are always subjected to tests intended to disprove them, which leads to other theories etc.

Religion, on the other hand, cannot be changed. It is dogmatic and so when the evidence doesn't fit the theory, it is covered up or simply ignored.

Answer 2

It's really unfortunate, but since the creationist movement (going back to "bible inerrancy", which got galileo locked up for saying the earth orbited the sun). The Creationist movement has momentum because it's so well funded. The arguments are usually taken and copy/pasted from pseudoscience websites. Often the arguments and examples are ones that have been debunked or explained years (sometimes decades) ago, yet they are still trotted out and pasted in whenever a creationist vs evolution debate comes up. They love using popular (and erroneous) analogies and improper use of occam's razor to make things sound simple.

The idea is to convince enough lay people so that voters will elect creationist minded politicians who will then madate teaching it in biology class in school. Why don't creationists like evolution? Because it contradicts the Bible, plain and simple.

Evolution is a theory like gravity is a theory. it's an explanation of the facts, of what we observe around us. It will be overturned if we come up with a better theory that also fits the facts.

Creationism, the theory that the world is less than 10,000 years old and new species cannot evolve, and that there was a worldwide flood that spread fossils around the world, does not fit the facts.

Answer 3

Evolution says that life "happened" and slowly evolved over time, through trail and error becoming more complex and more complex until one day, we are sitting here in front of our computers.

Creation says that God made us, purposefully made the human race and further created the world so that we would have a place to live and so on and so forth.

One says that our environment was adapted FOR US (Christianity) and the other says that we adapted to our environment (Evolution). I think it is interesting to boil it down to that level...

This sticking point for evolution is that it equates life with a cosmic accident. Life happened; it could have easily NOT have happened. Life evolved; it could have easily NOT have evolved. We are here; we could just as easily NOT be here. I for one am not comfortable with that. It doesn’t adequately explain anything; it just pushes everything off to some unknown primordial date.

Further to the above, evolution breeds arrogance. We are better because we are here today. You HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT or you cannot seriously accept the theory of evolution.

Also, people that espouse evolution totally reject the ideology of evolution. Why do we have an American’s with Disabilities Act and Equal opportunity laws if we seriously hold to the ideology of evolution? We are talking about the future perfection and refinement of generations! This isn’t a game! We need to be harsh, so that the strong survive and the weak are not allowed to breed.

Why do we dabble with cloning and genetic manipulation if we believe in evolution? If we clone a cow that can produce 3,000 gallons of milk per day so that all dairy farms have the same cow producing the 3,000 gallons of milk per day then we are denying the very principals that gave us this record breaking cow to begin with.

Regarding logic; first, you are not logical. You are an emotional being that THINKS it is logical, which isn’t to say it is logical.

Regarding theories; THE THEORY of evolution is scientific, that is of course not to say that it is correct, but that it is a structure / model that can be used to explain phenomena and predict phenomena in the future. It is the highest level that science can take things. For instance, there is only the THEORY of gravity and nothing passed that theory that makes it MORE true.

So for someone to say “It is just a theory” is a nonsensical statement. In common parlance theory is used as a speculative, i.e. “I have a theory as to WHO killed the Smith’s.” Well that theory is more a GUESS, but it makes you sound smarter. The reason it is not a theory is because you cannot demonstrate that the person that killed the Smith’s will kill them again, it is a past tense, which explains only ONE happening and not future happenings.

Answer 4

i imagine it truly is a lot more beneficial ridiculous to trust each and every little thing occurred by coincidence and a sequence of consequences with infinite motives that by no ability seem to have a beginning, than to trust that there is an un-led to reason, or a supernatural author in a christian's view. Christians do not dislike the concept of evolution, it only makes more beneficial experience now and again, and different circumstances evolution scientifically proves evolution via suggesting that the universe and people themselves are far to complicated for all and sundry to even understand. No logical man or woman might want to certainly trust that there wasn't a layout or order to all of it except they were irrationally obdurate and bias against the perception of a sovereign being calling the photos. The question is why do evolutionists dislike christianity a lot?

Answer 5

On October 23, 1996, Pope John Paul II made a formal statement to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that "fresh knowledge leads to recognition of the theory of evolution as more than just a hypothesis." The Pope stated that creation and evolution can work together without any conflict, as long as it is maintained that only God can create the human soul. The news media seemed to proclaim this statement as a triumph over creationism. Many throughout the world have been asking what significance this statement has on Catholic and Protestant theology. The following are a few thoughts on this topic:
Did the Pope really say that evolution was 'more than a hypothesis'? It's probable that the secular media misinterpreted the Pope's address.

The original French address says:


'Aujourd'hui, pres d'un demisiecle apres la parution de l'encyclique, de nouvelles connaisances condesuisent a reconnaitre dans la theorie de l'evolution plus qu'*une* hypothese.'

In English:

'Today, almost half a century after the publication of the Encyclical [Humani generis, 1950], new knowledge has led to the recognition of more than *one* hypothesis in the theory of evolution.'

The trouble is, the French word 'une' can mean 'a' or 'one'. The secular media translated it 'a' hypothesis, while the official RC newspaper L'Osservatore Romano translated it as 'one'.
This information comes from the Polish RC (Roman Catholic) creationist and eminent scientist Maciej Giertych, who has published over 90 scientific papers. It was published in his private publication Opoka (The Rock), December 1996, and we were told 'feel free to publish it if you find it useful'.

We thank Prof. Giertych for his analysis, demonstrating once again the distortions of the secular media. However, the Pope has long accepted the old earth theory, and most RC schools teach evolution, so it's in the Pope's over-all character to accept evolution. Especially as the RC church does not regard Scripture as its final authority.

Answer 6

They would rather continue believing that some higher power waved a magic wand and created everything. The logic and complexity of evolution is lost on them.

Some christians do believe in evolution though, and just find a grey area that combines the two which satisfies them.

Personally I agree with you, I think the theory of evolution is so logical and interesting, WHEN you take the time to learn about it and understand it. It's frustrating when people say "oh evolution makes no sense, because where are all the half money half humans?" and crap like that.

Answer 7

The first part that is wrong is ASSUMING the earth is 4.5 billion years old and humans are 2-250,000. That is taking man's belief...not fact...and there wasn't anyone here to prove it! Every single dating method man uses to show how old something is disagrees with others. They just use one that comes up with the answer they want.
I believe in 6 LITERAL days and God rested on the 7th. Any other interpretation, gap theory, millions of years, evolution etc is solely man's OPINION and NOT scripture. Evolution doesn't hold water. Evolution is solely dependent on the big bang theory. The big bang and evolution together can not answer...
where the two pieces of matter that collided came from;
what the ACTUAL probability of two of these correct pieces of matter meeting at the right time, at the right place, at the right speed, at the right angle, with the right atmospheric or lack thereof to produce things as we know it;
how a cell in the ocean morphed itself into a fishlike creature;
how this fishlike creature began to breathe air and why it would want to do so;
how and why it decided to go on land;
how it morphed itself into all the different species;
how out of this it was able to morph into a human being which is the only creature on earth with the ability to speak logically, reason, and feel emotion;
how plants survived before they "learned" photosenthesis;
why the holy grail of evolution (Berkley) says on its site that this is what they BELIEVE to be true but is not fact;

All scientific answers are man's best GUESS. There is NO absolute fact, try as he might and as smart as he thinks he is. People think since we get in a car and it takes us where we are going (sometimes) and you can turn on a computer and do most anything (sometimes) man can put a date on things billions of years ago based on things they "think" happened. Problem is, man makes mistakes and evolution is just one of the many.
I have a choice. I can fold in to your way of thinking so I don't get made fun of and then have to answer to God, OR I can allow you to scoff at me and then let YOU answer to Him. I choose the latter. Atleast I can say you have been told, you will have no excuse.
There is only ONE True God.
http://planttel.net/~meharris1/mikescorner.html

Answer 8

Well, there are many positions within Christianity on the topic of evolution, so it's difficult to discuss in a generalized sense.

For example, "young earth creationists" who insist the world is only 5K-10K years old are going to take issue with evolution's main premise that the world has been around for billions of years. To them, the age of the earth issue itself (let alone the evolution issue) is incompatible with their beliefs.

There are those who believe in the seven literal days of creation. Since evolution needs an extremely long time to "do its thing," they take the theory as a challenge to their faith in how man was created -- if it was only seven days long, then evolution couldn't have happened.

There are other opinions that cause conflict as well; ultimately the impersonal process of evolution (where the system basically develops itself through trial and error) for many religious people seems to run counter to the personal process of creation by a conscious entity (i.e., God).

What I find unfortunate is that many of the people who argue about this on either side usually don't have much knowledge of the other position or why people hold it -- usually it just gets chalked up to "ignorance" or "stupidity" or "stubbornness." That's not a great way to dialogue.

(Then again, many people don't really want a dialogue on the issue, because it threatens the way they've chosen to view life; and they've invested a great deal of themselves in that worldview. To give it up or change it means tremendous loss of identity for them.)

There are some Christians who believe they can incorporate evolution into their view of creation (i.e., God sculpted life using the evolution process).

Some don't even claim to know the specifics. They believe the Genesis story is meant not as a literal blow-by-blow description but simply the Jewish people structuring their story about how God was ultimately responsible for everything we see in this universe.

Many of the people participating here are young, still in school, and still formulating their beliefs -- pushing back against those that don't match, even if they don't know the details of the opposing argument. I think that's part of the process of growing up, and it's okay to be there (you have to establish some beliefs and let them gel, before you can start to challenge and change them), and eventually we get to the point where we can bring our ideas to the table and listen to other ideas.

I would just tell people not to be scared to listen to each other. If you sincerely believe what you believe, then it makes no sense to be threatened by other points of view. It only feels threatening when you feel you have something to lose (whether it's your cherished belief, or your self-pride, or whatever).

Technically, we should be able to explore alternate viewpoints in a civil way, without feeling the need to pass judgment on each other's motivations.

Answer 9

1) As far as your bio class goes- continue to believe in evolution, you do not want to flunk.
2) As far as your religion goes, many branches of Christianity and many other religions have no problem with evolutions. The Christians that don't are usually Christians that do not take every word in the Bible as literally true.
3) As far as your friend goes, you and her will just have to agree to disagree.
This is going to be the hard one. I think you would be able to let her believe what she wants if only she would get off your back about what you believe.
I don't think she is going to do that. Her world view doesn't allow for many doubts or grey areas. If you go to church with her and loOK at the bumper stickers on the cars in the parking lot you may see one that says something like "God said it, I believe it, Case closed."
Every person who thinks something different is a threat to their certainty.
She may also think you're going to hell. You are almost certainly not. You sound like a nice young person.
There are two ways to handle it.
1) is the principled way of -"look I've gone to the Darwinists, I don't want to discuss it any more, I value your friendship but this is just one place where we have to agree to disagree.
2) Tell her that for the duration of you bio studies you have at least pretend to look like a Darwinist and the Creation seminars are taking a lot of time from your studies but you will think about it and read the Bible ok?
I'd do the first but remember- The truth will set you free, but it won't make you any friends.
good luck on the bio exam

Answer 10

Saying it is just a theory is watering it down to a common level for everyone. We know as christians that the world was created in seven days and that the earth is relatively young. According to evolution the universe is 20 billion years old so it doesn't really work with christianity. I think it is hated because it is a theory to take God out of the picture, to say we got where we were by ourselves.