Should Evolution be true?

Question

Who am I? (What am I worth?)
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
Where am I going when I die?

Karl Marx said "Evolution is the goal."

Hitler said "If you tell a lie long enough and loud enough and often enough, the people will believe it...People are more likely to believe a big lie than a small lie."
DON'T FALL FOR EVOLUTION...it never happened.

This is not a discussion about science vs. religion.
Both (Evolution and Creationism) are religions. I need to BELIEVE that there is a God, but I would also have to believe that everything came from a tiny dot, like the one at the end of this sentence.
I believe in the beginning God
and you believe in the beginning dot.
Don't say mine is religious and yours is science. BOGUS!!

Please be respectful as you answer, lets me civilized. Let this not be personal but a discussion about opinions. There is nothing wrong with beliefs. Share your views.

NOBODY in this debate so far has answered my four original questions in the beginning. I guess if we take the evolution theory to heart, the answers would be pretty sad.

Answer 1

are you sure, I have seen some people that look like they came from Apes, and a lot of others that act like it.

Answer 2

> Hitler said "If you tell a lie long enough and loud enough
> and often enough, the people will believe it...People are
> more likely to believe a big lie than a small lie."

Evolution is not a religion. You can insist long, loud, and often that it is a religion, but that still won't make it a religion.

I bet you don't know the faintest thing about evolution--but you are convinced that you know enough about it to preach to others about it. But those of us who *do* know something about evolution can see with absolute clarity that you haven't a clue what you're talking about. You've gotten all your information from the apologists. Well guess what--THEY don't know anything about evolution either!

You're not going to get much respect from us "evolutionists" until you stop misrepresenting the science.

To answer your question, "should" is irrelevant to the pursuit of truth. Either something is true or it isn't. Reality is utterly indifferent to our desires, beliefs, and sensibilities.

What Karl Marx (allegedly) said about evolution is irrelevant; reality doesn't give a damn about Karl Marx. I say "allegedly" because my experience with apologists has taught me never to take anything they say for granted. Novangelis illustrates why with the info about the Hitler quote. People who rely on faith appear less likely to research a lie before blithely repeating it. (And before someone repeats the lies, the truth is that both Hitler and Stalin were fervently opposed to evolution.)

Answer 3

"DON'T FALL FOR EVOLUTION...it never happened."

"Don't say mine is religious and yours is science. BOGUS!!"

I find your last sentence a bit misleading as it alone would have me believe we were entering into an intelligent, reasoned debate. However the statements of yours that I have quoted above prove otherwise. Shouting these absolute statements and adding exclamation points is no way to begin a discussion.

As a matter of fact, Creationism is a religious hypothesis and Evolution is a scientific theory, and I will explain to you why.

First, we must understand the difference between what is science, and what is religion. Religion is a belief in something beyond human comprehension, be that a higher power or higher state of being or whatnot and is necessarily based on faith. Faith is itself a belief or opinion that is held regardless of logic or evidence.

Science, on the other hand, is a gathering together of observable, empirical data/evidence and logical extrapolations based on said data/evidence.

A religious hypothesis is arrived upon by doctrine, such as the creation account in the Bible, or by some other act of faith, and sometimes evidence is later cobbled together to try and support it. A scientific hypothesis is only arrived upon to explain the evidence that one has already found, and after extensive testing and checking against all other known evidence by many different, qualified parties, only then is it granted the lofty title of 'theory'.

The real thing that separates science and religion is the fact that in religion, if evidence comes up that seems to contradict doctrine, it will be outright ignored or shoddily explained away, but in science if direct evidence is ever found that shows a theory, no matter how respected or popular, to be outright false, that theory will be thrown out immediately, and without remorse.

All Evolution is is best explanation we have come up with to explain the evidence we have found, and we continue to find mounds and mounds of evidence that seems to be in keeping with it. However, if we ever found direct evidence that we've been wrong all this time, we would immediately toss it out and begin interpreting anew.

Creation was not come upon through this process, nor does it explain anything without raising even more complex questions, the primary of which being "If everything in the Universe were designed by an intelligent and immensly powerful being, then where did said being come from? It is necessarily even more complex than what is has created, so who designed it?" That is not science, it is religion.

I should also point out that your reference to the "tiny dot" you mention (which I can only assume is a horrific oversimplification of Big Bang Theory) is once again only our model of what happened based on the evidence we have. Now, if you ask what caused the Big Bang, you will usually get the answer "I don't know", an answer that is O.K. is science. Just because we don't know the answer to how it happened, doesn't mean that we should default to religion, it just means we don't yet have the evidence to make a real guess. We haven't given up on the question just because we haven't found the answer YET.

You want the anwers to those inane questions at the top? I'll do my best, but you probably will be unsatisfied with my answers.

1) Who you are is very subjective and there could be many possible answers. From what I know I would say you are a guy who posts on Yahoo! Answers. I could say that you are the sum of your genetics and your environment. I could also say you are an intelligent (technically speaking, of course) animal of the Great Ape family. Mostly I would say you should define yourself. What are you worth? A couple bucks in chemicals. Maybe more depending on your assets. Personally I would say you are worth your usefullness to society. If you laze around and leech off of other, you are not worth much. If you spend every day in an ER saving lives, you are worth more than money can define.

2) Again this is a broad question. I obviously don't know the specifics of your own life. You came from an egg and a sperm put together. You came from a long process of slow, steady evolution through natural selection that has thus far culminated in you. Every atom in your body was once part of a star, so I could say you came from them.

3) Your only inherent purpose is to propogate your own gentic material, and if you want more purpose than that you'll have to make it for yourself. I do. My purpose is to learn about the world and enjoy what it has to offer. That's my purpose because I choose it.

4) Wherever you are burned or buried or dumped, at least your body. Your personality and hopes and dreams will be gone, but don't worry, Mark Twain said something along the lines of: "I don't fear death. I was dead for billions of years before I was born and it didn't inconvenience me in the least." Hopefully you will be remembered.

That's all I have for you.

Answer 4

You are comparing apples and oranges. Creationism and evolution are both based on belief. Except evolution is based on scientific evidence. And anyone who understands the theory of evolution will tell you that it is merely an idea, the best answer we have at the moment, and that there is a possibility that it's not true. Unfortunately, many teachers do not understand science well enough, and do give children the impression that the theory is fact. However, just because it is not set in stone does not put it in the arena with creationism. There just is not evidence to support creationism. This does not mean that it's ruled out as a possibility, but it is certainly far fetched. Still, I think that both possibilities should be presented in school as just that, possibilities.

Answer 5

Religion relies on faith and faith alone.

Science relies on evidence and a little faith (i.e. theories such as evolution) - for instance it cannot be PROVEN beyond absolutely any doubt that the big bang created the universe, but there is certainly a LOT of evidence that points that way.

Both may indeed be viewed as BELIEF systems because they cannot be conclusively proven. However science is not a religion. Religion is a set of beliefs in a supernatural power. EVERY religion shares this - from Christianity to Jainism to Buddhism, all of them believe in (a) God(s) or supernatural deity which transcends the law of nature. Science and evolution never state this. Science is the laws of nature - whatever those laws are IS nature, so nothing in science is supernatural.

As for your other questions -
You are who you make of yourself
You came from your ancestors, and them from theirs - leading back to the very first thing that was identifiable as living
You are here for whatever purpose you create for yourself

As for the last one - only religion can answer that, and as science is not a religion it cannot answer that question.

Answer 6

The problem is that most people in this debate haven't read Shadows of the Mind by Roger Penrose. He is NOT pushing a reconciliation between religion and science at all! However I interpreted his argument to be a reconciliation between science and belief in the soul. Judge for yourself if you're interested.

Edit:
Who am I? (What am I worth?)
You are the physical manifestation of your Platonic form
You are priceless because all Platonic forms are equally beautiful and perfect.
Where did I come from?
Your soul is in the Platonic realm but your physicality is here in the physical universe and your physicality comes from that universe.
Why am I here?
To provide the oracle answers this Turing machine-physical universe requires to continue evolving.

Where am I going when I die? Your soul never actually leaves the Platonic realm so it still continues there when you die. Your physicality also never dies, it just breaks down and is recycled in the universe.

Answer 7

Why should I be respectful. You can get anything right. Karl Marx said "Evolution is the goal." The correct Hitler quote from Mein Kampf is below. You strung together two quotes that did not originate from Hitler.

Since you are probably lying (then again you might be too poorly informed to lie), I am just going to dismiss you and your garbage.

Evolution is based on critical evaluation of evidence. Religion is a matter of belief. Creationism is about lies. Please buy yourself a clue before you dump another steaming load.

Answer 8

I'll answer you with a quote I once saw:
"Where does a 500 pound Gorilla sit? Anywhere he wants to, right? So how does an omnipotent God create the Universe?"
I think it all comes down to the fact that evolutionism and religion have been polarised, yet they don't have to be. Why should it be so difficult for someone to believe that 'God' created the universe through whatever process it chose to? And the reason it's not written up like a scientific textbook in the Bible, or any other religious text, is because the purpose of those books was to guide our lives, not tell us how 'God' ordered the creation of all things.

Answer 9

Evolution is no more a religion than gravity is a religion. It is a valid scientific theory that has been tested, proven, and has been used to predict natural occurances.
i suggest that you actually do some research on the subject of evolution before you discount it or attempt to refute it, because, given your references, you have no true comprehension of the subject.
Also, if you ask me to share my views, why are you prohibiting my answer by telling me not to say that my belief is grounded in science? that is kind of a backwards logic, and does not make for a good debate.
my view is that scientific methods and theories have a very good track record. scientists are willing to change and even erase entire theories if they are proven wrong with experimentation. i have never met any religious-minded person (or group) that will do this. religion and science are two completely different spheres of thought and, as you've noticed, don't mix well.
evolution and science are what i will stand behind.

Answer 10

If Science is Bogus then stop benefiting from Science. Get off your computer, move into a cave, bathe in a natural water formation without soap, wear skins for clothes, walk everwhere or ride a smelly animal, get a disease you'll have to live with or possibly die from, and completely shun the modern world which is entirely centered around the Scientific advances that you've come to take for granted! You religious people drive me crazy. You want to maintain your religious fantasies while getting all the advantages that modern science can give you which you use each and every day all day long!

It is YOU who are Bogus!

Answer 11

I have six years of religious studies in college. Evolution lacks a supreme being, therefore it is not a religion (if so, please feel free to point out who the Supreme Being of "Evolutionism" is!). Quoting Marx and Hitler do not disprove evolution. The questions you ask have nothing to do with evolution. Might I suggest you actually get an education (as posted above, and I say this with all due respect) before posting your questions.