Why is it that so many Christians don't seem to understand that evolution doesn't say we came from monkeys?

Question

Honestly, is the American Education system that lacking?

Questions and answers claiming that Evolution states we came from monkey's come at least 10 times a day on here.

You can't possibly be that uneducated. No one can be.

Yall are scaring the daylights out of me. My husband is American and I've been considering moving down there because there are better job oppurtunities (I'm Canadian) than anything in my area.

But I'm getting scared. If my kids (if/when we have any) actually go to school and are actually get taught that we come from monkey's, even though it's incredibly wrong, I don't think I want them to go to school there.

I'm not trying to be rude. Really I'm not. But the more I see those types of posts, the more worried it makes me.

We DO NOT come from monkeys. Evolution doesn't even remotely state that.

Please please do your proper research. Evolution teaches that monkey's, apes, and humans all came from a common ancestor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution

That link will teach you about evolution. Not all of it, but enough that you can get the basic idea. Please click on all the links within that link as well.

It will lead you to such things a an explanation of natural selection, genetics, genetic drift, etc.

JP, that's absolutely terrible. I didn't even know a teach could do that. That's even worse.

Sean, they aren't monkey bones. You just showed your lack of education. Please read the link I posted.

Quaaakkkk, thats becuse we didn't evolve from monkeys. Did you completely ignore what I just said?

Neptune, I'm not that young. I'm 30. And at least apes is more accurate than monkeys. Even if it is wrong. Though I wasn't taught that in school. I was taught we came from a common ancestor.

Randy, notice I didn't say all Christians. I made sure of that.

And I doubt they're more educated than I am. I went to university to study Biology. Most other people can't say the same.

Shirley, thank you. I'm actually considering that. I think it would be a better solution for alot of reasons.

night, I agree but I can't find a job here (other than the low end pay jobs) and I don't know what else to do. I could move out to Vancouver or Toronto, but it's so far from my family, I might as well move to my favorite city in the world (other than my current one of course), New Orleans.

That's where my husband is and I really don't want to be separated anymore.

Anthony, no it's not a monkey, It's a primate. If you're going to debate, at least get it right.

Darryl, ok you won't accept wikipedia?

See, I chose wikipedia because it's easy enough for the common people (people without a university education in Biology) to understand and yet doesn't teach you like a child. I guess that isn't enough for you. All right, let's start posting things over most peoples head.

Don't like that? Ok... just thought I'd make it easy for you. Let's see what you make of talking about things like particulate matter.

First an easy one.

http://www.evolutionhappens.net/

http://bioweb.cs.earlham.edu/9-12/evolution/HTML/live.html

http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/cosmic_evolution/

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/

aj, no evolution is taught because there's evidence to support it's existance. If there was no evidence, it wouldn't be considered a science.

Papa, that's absolutely fascinating.

Now, I generally don't like JW in any possible way but that has to be one of the most intelligent posts I've seen on here. Even though I don't agree with you.

I think you've successfulled meshed evolution and creationism. A rare talent. Pity others don't see it that way. As simply a means to an end.

Answer 1

People have trouble accepting evolution for the same reason they had trouble accepting that the Earth was not flat and was not the center of the universe. The funniest thing is when people claim that creationism has been proven or is fact. It's a fact just like it is a fact that the world is flat. It looks that way so it must be true. Since we can't see evolution it must not exist. I also find it amusing that people think that it makes more sense that women were created from a man's rib than that we are the result of evolution.

I've noticed that many people don't understand the theory of evolution, and essentially use that as a basis to attack it. For example, many people will point out that evolution does not explain the origin of the first cells or where matter came from. No duh it doesn't. It's not supposed to. Evolution explains the origin of the diversity of species, not the origin of life. There are other theories that address that issue, and I don't think any of those are accepted as fact. I do, however, think it's a fair bet that life does in fact exist, so it's perfectly valid to construct a theory that presupposes that life exists.

People also misunderstand the concept of a scientific theory. What they fail to realize is that most of science is made up of theories, and while many of these theories have been effectively proven true, they're still called theories. Unlike the common English use of theory, in science a theory is an explanation of facts, which is subjected to rigorous scientific testing. Evolution is called a theory not so much because we're not sure if the basic concepts are accurate, but because we are not confident that every single little detail is perfectly accurate. There may be complexities and details that are not yet fully understood, but the basic idea that species evolve and that the process of evolution has resulted in the diversity of life we see today is basically an established fact.

Another problem that may be partly to blame for the confusion regarding evolution is the presentation of "scientific evidence" by creationists that the claim contradicts the theory of evolution. I often see misleading and incorrect use of scientific data to "disprove" evolution. For example, on prominent creationist website cites a study John A. Eddy and Aram A. Boomazian which they claim says that the sun has been contracting for 400 years when, in fact, the study examined evidence from under 100 years and extrapolated the rest from a single report of the appearance of a solar eclipse in the 1500s. Furthermore, the study was conducted about 50 years ago, and dozens of studies since then have found that the data was based on flawed methodology and the sun is actually not contracting.
Here's that site: http://www.khouse.org/articles/2002/418/
And some background on the study they cited: http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1986/PSCF9-86VanTill.html

The problem is that people read that and believe that evolution has been disprove. I saw someone quote that particular website here on Answers as scientific proof that the theory of evolution was false. The people who wrote the creationist article probably did their research and latched on to the one study that supported their theory, but the people who read it don't know that it is an outdated study, that the conclusion is overinflated (the 400 year thing), or that it contradicts the findings of dozens of more recent and more accurate studies.

Apparently the phenomenon of distorting scientific data to further a creationist agenda is fairly widespread. One of my bio profs talked about a particularly egregious example of someone (I don't remember his name) who actually obtained a PhD in evolutionary biology for the expressed purpose of disproving the theory of evolution, and now goes around writing articles that pretty transparent to scientists but are just believable enough to confuse the general public.

Answer 2

In my opinion, the education system isn't that bad. For the most part I think that because of religion, people's minds are closed to the idea before being taught it. So they don't pay attention when it is taught. Then they go to church and listen to every flawed argument there is for creationism.

But then I read some of the answers to this question. It does seem there are a lot of people who have no clue about evolution. So maybe there is truth to your concern.

Answer 3

The ones who don't believe in evolution memorize the one liners their leaders preach and then use the line whenever they feel threatened or scared. Evolution scares some of them. You also have to understand that it's a proven fact that the really blind religious people who follow a church without question or incorporating thoughts of their own, have lower IQ's than the rest of us. I was looking at state average IQ's a few weeks ago. Did you know the IQ of the average American is somewhere around 100? My IQ, at last test, was 152. My guess is yours was a lot higher than the national average, too. This is why people say dumb stuff like "We don't done come from them there monkeys." and can't understand evolution.

Answer 4

You are scaring the living daylights out of me.

We did indeed evolve from monkeys. If I showed you an accurate artist's rendition of that "common ancestor" we share with modern monkeys, you'd look at the picture and say, "that's a monkey."

We evolved from monkeys -- just not MODERN monkeys.

Answer 5

Most Christians fear the teaching of Evolution, because they don't or are unable to teach the Bible, as a whole, to their children. They teach them Bible stories, but not the Bible.

Since age 7, I was raised in the Jehovah's Witnesses and came to understand the necessity of evolution in understanding the development of all living things from the limited specimens that survived the great flood.

Yes, I believe that man was created, if for no other reason than the fact that our brains are capable of storing over 10,000 years of data. What evolutionary pressure would have created such a need in beings with such a limited life span?

We also never get older than seven years of age, the period of which every cell in our bodies completely replace themselves. Some faster, like skin cells, while others slower, like the brain and heart.

Science knows we are capable of living without aging, but doesn't know why we don't.

Answer 6

I don't think that they care about the specifics (the "common ancestor" is probably a primate of some sort, so most lay people would consider that to be an extinct species of "monkey" irregardless of the scientific name.). They are not interested in obsessing over semantics like you are. They are more interested in debating the idea of whether we are formed by random probability or the purposeful design of an intelligent creator.

Many Christians probably know more about genetics, biology, probability and statistics than you do.

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I've known many Christians who have majored in Biology in college, and a few who have go on to medical school. Some believe in evolution, some don't. Whether one believes in evolution or not seems to have little to do with level of education or college major.

I get the impression that the term "monkey" is used by some as just a convenient short hand notation for the primate common ancestor. It takes less space to type "monkey" than it does to type "primate common ancestor", so that is why people say that.

Answer 7

I'm Canadian and would NEVER move to the States unless they lighten up on the religious thing. They are creepily religious down there and pardon the pun but God forbid you think anything different. I know I'm generalizing and not EVERYONE is like that but do your research on what the location is like where you might move.

*EDIT* and for t hose that want to know WHY there are still monkeys - IT IS BECAUSE WE EVOLVED FROM A **COMMON** ANCESTOR. Picture a family tree. Common ancestor branches off into prehistoric humans, apes, monkeys and other "primates".

Answer 8

My high school AP Biology teacher refused to teach evolution and whenever I'd try to bring it up, she'd tell me openly and in front of the class to go read my Bible if I wanted to know how life got here.

This was about 10 years ago in Central Arkansas.

She still teaches AP Biology, Human Anatomy & Physiology [a pre Pre-Med course], and Biology.

Answer 9

The problem isn't the education system. This problem is another example of people getting their opinions and views from soundbytes. They reach conclusions based on what they hear through media, blog sites, pulpits and just from people in school, the office or on the streets. We are in deep trouble because of this and still so very many people just don't get it.

Folks on here will repeat ad nauseum what they hear without ever taking the time to research anything.

Answer 10

And this common ancestor would be a what?

I think you'll find it would be a monkey. And before that mammal-like reptile and before that a reptile and before that.......until we get to a single cell organism.

I disagree with "monkey's, apes and humans". We ARE apes.