Why do I get so annoyed at people who deny evolution?

Question

They are simply ignorant, and would be embarrased at their own stupidity if they bothered to actually read about it, rather than get a second hand account from their religious leaders, but it still makes me angry at the way they misrepresent science. Science is the search for the truth, religion is the search to justify existing beliefs. Am I being too harsh?

Answer 1

I share your annoyance

(1) Creationists are organised evangelical Christians and constantly intervene in rhe Science pages of this site so as to conduct propaganda against widely accepted scientific ideas.

(2) This includes not just Darwinism but Heliocentrism, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt by Galileo on January 7th 1610 when he discovered the 4 largest moons of Jupiter and proved that everything did NOT go round the Earth, (Ptolemy's model of the Solar System refuted in favour of the Copernican Model.)

(3) They should conduct their discussions on the Religion and Spirituality pages and let those of us who come and visit the Science pages do what we came here for, in peace. But they give us no peace.

(4) We don't put scientific questions on the religion and spirituality pages but they show us a complete lask of similar respect and consideration by banging their drum loudly and insistently and continually. Like an Anti-Social Behaving Neighbour playing music all night,

(5) Karl Popper put it well when he said that any scientific theory must be capable of being refuted. But Creationists put forward their received ideas (the literal truth of Genesis) as unable-to-be-questioned permanent and eternal truth i.e. not able to be refuted,

Therefore any debate with them is a complete waste of time as they are not open to their ideas being refuted and thus are not followers of the Scientific Method that Mankind has pursued since the Enlightenment.

(6) Thus their thinking pattern and their mindset is diametrically opposed to the scientific mindset and their closed minds offend us witn their intransigence and their reliance on unsubstantiated well-rehearsed assertions like "there is absolutely no proof of Darwin's theory"

(7) what offends me most is that they think there is still a debate to be had. They were intellectually routed and put to flight a long time ago but refuse to lie down and die, and so hold everyone else back by constantly pushing their old-fashioned agenda when everyone else has long since moved on.

You are not being harsh enough. You are being too kind. Don't be fooled by the tone of sincerity they adopt. It is designed to present themselves as reasonable-sounding people so people may indulgently (out of politeness) come to think of their ideas as being reasonable, when they patently are not.

Answer 2

You're a straight thinker & you're not letting religion influence you as many do! Science is the research of facts whereas religion has many believing that since it is written that it has to be proof! Religion is constantly being challenged & constantly being proven as misleading or wrong. So who then do you believe? The answer is simple! In a way you can't really blaim any religious people because they have not known any other way of life & this has been drilled into them from an early age (is using the word brainwashed too strong), i myself am a catholic, you are baptised into their faith when you are just a couple of weeks old, what choice have you, if people found that their whole faith, the thing in which they lead & build theyre life upon was a fraud... well you can imagine how they would look & feel but i guess it comes down to stubborness in the end, people would rather live the lie than to admit they were wrong.

Answer 3

I can fully understand you being annoyed at ignorance because this personally annoys me too. You would think that in this day and age, people would want to search out knowledge and wouldn't be upset if their pre-existing beliefs were challenged with new information. The truth of the matter is that a huge amount of people do not like change, and science actively promotes this. I do differ with you on one thing though and that is I do not believe religion "is the search to justify existing beliefs" as I believe religion does not search at all. It rarely evolves or changes at all as this would start to alter those pre-existing beliefes.

Answer 4

I hear what your saying but consider this.

If god held in his right hand all truth, and in his left the everlasting desire for truth, although with the condition that I should remain in error for ever- and if he said to me, Choose, I should humbly bow before His left hand, and say. "Father, give; pure truth is for thee alone" Thats what a germen writer wrote.

Also consider that man once thought the earth was flat and immovable, so they could not understand the movements of stars ect. I think you are being to harsh.

A scientests mind is an open mind. Yet i detect a chip on your shoulder. Jesus said" I will make fisher's of men. It did not mean that jesus would change the disciples into diffrent beings:

It meant that he would direct their hunting instincts into a higher channel. Now if you call yourself a scientest think about what i just said and have an open mind. Its the exact same for great scientest. I think you misrepresent science because you wont allow yourself the open mind that a scientest requires.

Anotherwords you are still thinking the the world is flat. What about when Issac newton's apple that fell to the ground? Then Einstein started questioning issac newtons theory. They were both great scientest that looked a little deeper. All things are relative to circumstances.

I am a man of faith and science is awesome.
Science is there to solve and be modified to confirm newer discoveries. Like the world is round and not flat.

Oh and one last thing. Einstein was a a normal guy like most of us. Scientest did not belive his theorys at first.
What made him carry on working on his eqations?
His faith and his understanding.

Answer 5

Religion is a personal choice. It is one thing to chose to believe in any one religion, it is quite another to force that choice on others.

Science tries to explain the world we live in, and answer, how, where, when and how, and if we are lucky the why of things.

Like I said religion is a personal choice, in the christian religion the bible states that god, took clay and fashioned Adam. God had to have an ingredient to make Adam he/she/it took clay, clay is what? Soil, bacteria, germs, base metals many other things mixed together into a substance that makes up clay and clay when wet gets very slimy. Therefore it seems to me that God, did exactly what the science community is stating he did, we came from amino acids of the earth, we developed into what is considered an early ape form, then developed from that into what we are today. Scientist can not answer as yet, how come we split off from the apes we know today, perhaps and environmental factor came into play we don't know about, perhaps a meteor, perhaps a volcanic eruption added something to the mix that caused the mutation. Whatever, there isn't to me, that much difference in what the bible says how man became from the scientific version, science gives more details.

Answer 6

It All depends on the religion and its interpretation of creation. It was man that defined the length of a day, the length of a year, the length of linear existance not GOD. Therefore how long is a day by GOD's reckoning?

Also not all religions suppress Sceince. Scientists like Gallileo were branded heretics for supposing the Earth was not the centre of the Universe but in other faiths Science and religion are seen to be twin sisters. Understand one and you'll understand the other...

Unfortunately ALL religions use religous belief for political leverage and in the past science was a poltical subject that threated some religious instituations expecially those in Europe hence this viewpoint.

My own viewpoint is I believe in creation but 6 days is not 6 days defined by man but those defined by GOD. I as brought up to seek knowledge, to find truth as your beliefs if true will hold up o any question you ask. Its our own limitation of understanding science that reject our understanding of the complexity of creation.

Answer 7

I can completely understand what you mean. Actually I get annoyed at the level of misunderstanding and ignorance that surrounds so many different scientific theories. There is nothing more annoying than talking to someone who clearly knows nothing about a subject but is absoloutely incapable of even listening to what you have to say.

Having said that I also get annoyed at people who don't understand that it is a theory and refuse to believe that anything else is possible. Personally I think that out of the different hypothesis' out there the theory of evoloution makes the most sense but it is worth bearing in mind that a new one may come along at any time, there are some thing we may never know about for sure. After all that is the essence of science.

P.s. I loved mint julip's answer and have to agree, perhaps we could set up an anti religious freaks petition. They are perfectly entitiled to their beliefs but would they please stop trying to shove them donw my throat.

Answer 8

There is often the idea among our religious brethren that scientific advances are ipso facto against religion. Nothing could be further from the truth. The more science progresses the more uncertain it becomes about the cosmos. Look at where physics has lead us: a point where everything is based on uncertainty principles, and the further it progresses the more incomprehensible it will become. If I were religious (and I'm not) I would welcome the mystical explanations of science!

Answer 9

Yes, you are being too harsh. Especially with statements like "ignorant" and "stupidity". You're making the situation you don't like worse.

The conflict between religion and science is tragic, because, for most people, it is unnecessary. Nothing in evolution denies the possibility that we were created by a higher power, one who watches over us today.

So there can be common ground for most people. Many religious people could accept that the world and man weren't created all at once 4000 years ago, if they can also believe man was created by a higher power.

Science folk could make it clear (even in our schools) to religious folk that science does not deny the possibility of a higher power that created man, using evolution as a tool. In fact there are many wonderful discoveries in science (for example, the creation of a very specific kind of universe that allows life to exist) that could support religious faith. This won't solve the problem for extreme fundamentalists. But they are not the majority of people who now oppose evolution. Many religious people who now oppose evolution could find harmony with modern science. But it's up to the science community to show them that.

It won't happen unless we treat each other with respect, and open our hearts and minds to each other. So yes, you are being too harsh.

Edit because of following answer:

"1) Creationists are organised evangelical Christians and constantly intervene in rhe Science pages of this site so as to conduct propaganda against widely accepted scientific ideas."

This is not true. Over _half_ of all Americans don't believe in evolution. There are far fewer evangelicals. This very large degree of opposition is in part true because some scientists and non-religious people insist on fanning the flames of this debate, rather than seeking the available common ground. 30% of Americans believe in evolution, but that a higher power was responsible. Scientists could help move more Americans from those completely opposed to evolution to the group who accept both religion and evolution, a position that is not in disagreement with science. Many scientists are, and have been religious.

Source:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/22/opinion/polls/main965223.shtml

Answer 10

Yes, you are too harsh. It is not wise to malign other people's opinions (you used the words "ignorant" and "stupidity"). Not you, nor anyone, can have ALL knowledge. But I understand your annoyance. I am a Christian and yet believe in evolution, but evolution of sorts under The Creator's control. I believe that man has always been unique, not descended from monkeys or what-have-you, indeed made in God's image, though I doubt if we have always looked exactly as we do now. I hope you feel better now. God bless you.

Answer 11

It may be that most of these people just ignore all the evidence that points to evolution which is fine if that's the way they want it but I wish they would stop trying to stuff that "we are made in gods image" crap down everyone Else's throats.

By the by I do believe there is a god.
A god so powerfull that he created the universe.
Why would one so mighty and powerfull spend time pushing stupid people about. When you think of the size of the universe, we occupy a portion of it so small you'd run out of zeros before you could define the percentage.