Please no religious referrals and links to religious web sites in the answers to this question, just try to keep it sweet and simple, and please no belief bashing....thanks
2006-09-10 15:45:53 · 29 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Thank you everyone for your answers, they have helped me to understand the difference. There are some great answers listed here.
2006-09-10 16:09:37 · update #1
Atheism is a term describing those who don't believe in any higher power so it's very likely they also believe in evolution, but it's not definite.
Evolutionists believe in evolution (as opposed to Creation) but that's not to say they don't also believe in a higher power as well.
2006-09-10 15:52:45 · answer #1 · answered by Ashlee S 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
An atheist is a person who believes that there is no god or higher power of any kind; this necessarily includes a belief that the universe and everything in it happened by chance, with no "outside help" from a creator. An evolutionist is a person who believes that evolution happens, that life forms change genetically with passing generations. It is definitely possible to believe in evolution and still believe in a god (even the Judeo-Christian God), because a person can believe that evolution is the means by which the creator deity made -- and continues to make -- life.
(This is a very difficult question to answer without ANY referrence to religion, but I'm assuming you meant no quotations of religious texts or such overt referrences, not no mention of religion at all.)
2006-09-10 22:52:55 · answer #2 · answered by Frey 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
No belief bashing here... that's actually an interesting question.
Many Christians / creationists, it might interest you to know, are partly evolutionists, too.
Darwin's theory was simply that organisms change over time. That is evolution in its most elementary form, and no one can disagree with it, either.
Creationists, people like me who believe in God, can agree that an all-powerful being could certainly create things, animals, and people that change. Evolutionists aren't always atheists, who don't believe in any kind of creator.
So the difference between atheists and evolutionists, I think, is that atheists don't believe in a creator, while evolutionists should be able to accept the idea of an all-powerful creator who allows change over time.
Hope some of what I said isn't totally out there!
2006-09-10 22:55:36 · answer #3 · answered by mtnlady 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
An atheist does not believe in any higher power such as God.
An evolutionist believes that life evolved over time. Some of them also believe in a higher power. Some atheist are also evolutionist but not all of them.
I am an atheist who is not an evolutionist.
2006-09-10 22:50:45 · answer #4 · answered by Lexi 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Atheists believe there is no God. Evolutionists believe in evolution. They are not synonomous. For instance I myself know christian evolutionists and atheists who dont believe in evolution. They are seperate issues completely.
Many who are evolutionists can also be agnostic or well any degree of religious faith from none to fanatical.
Atheists are simply the "none" of religious faith.
2006-09-10 22:52:00 · answer #5 · answered by Kenneth F 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Evolutionists believe that all life on Earth evolved from simpler forms of life in a natural process according the the laws of science and physics. For the record, I don't think the term "evolutionist" exists outside of the conservative side of the Christian church. The rest of us call them "educated people". I'm just saying. Don't kill me.
Atheists believe that it matters if you believe in God or not. But since they don't believe, why does it matter so much to them? I mean, Atheists actually named themselves "Atheists", no one else did. Kind of like naming yourself a "Non-Santa-ist", isn't it? Who would really care except you?
2006-09-10 23:03:40 · answer #6 · answered by Sugarface 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
One believe deals with the existence (or non existence) of a supreme being, the other deals with the way life has changed on this planet over the course of time. They deal with completely different subjects. A person can hold one, both, or neither of the beliefs for his own.
2006-09-10 22:52:20 · answer #7 · answered by Dave 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The difference?
Atheists are us people who don't believe in god.
People who believe in evolution simply believe that evolution happens.
Perhaps you don't know, I meet some who do, but there really was never any kind of theistic component to evolution, no more than gravity actually.
As a result, all bar about two of my many friends who believe in God also believe in evolution, probably because it is just plain right.
2006-09-10 22:52:13 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Aetheists don't believe in God. Evolutionist believe that life came from one source and changed over time into various species. An aetheist may think life poppoed out of nowhere in its current form. An evolutionist could for example think that God started evolution and let it run on its own. Thats the difference.
2006-09-10 22:50:23 · answer #9 · answered by Michael M 3 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Atheists do not believe in God.
Evolutionists may believe in God or may not. Evolutionists agree with the theory of Evolution.
2006-09-10 22:48:08 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋