Why do some people perceive evolution as a religion?

Question

I don't get it. Evolution - or evolutionary biology to be more precise - is a scientific discipline, nothing more. It has no churches, no priests and no rituals. It offers no guarantee of salvation or damnation, no eternal life and no moral code.

To me evolutionary biology is a field of science that examines the biological development and origin of species. It seeks to explain what will happen at a genetic level and provide a framework that explains where we and other organisms came from - who our ancestors were, what animals we share elements of DNA with. It does not seek to set itself up as an explanation for creation as that's more the field of abiogenesis.

It's no more different than, say, practical physics or mathematics or organic chemistry in that it seeks to provide a framework of fact based evidence that can then be applied to predict what will happen in certain circumstances. Yet we don't, for example, say that maths or physics are religions.

Enlighten me. Please.

Susanna:

Good point, but the reason I said 'practical physics' and not just 'physics' is because we know that the Newtonian model of physics is not always valid in light of quantum theory. Thus, like evolutionary biology, it does not offer a full explanation of the workings of the universe and, frankly, probably never will although it will and does offer proofs of a very substantial part of it.

Evolutionary biology, like other sciences, is the same: it does not claim to offer a complete picture although it does present compelling evidence that holds the overall theory together. We will probably never know everything about it, but we know enough to draw logical conclusions.

That's what puzzles me. Evolutionary biology never claimed to be infallible so it cannot be considered as a religion.

It's also the same reason that Intelligent Design can't be considered a science because ID starts with the answer and looks for the questions, not the other way round.

Answer 1

I will try to explain how I think some other people think. Of course I might have this completely wrong. Some people seem to think that science and religion somehow conflict. Some people think there is a great struggle going on right now between science and religion. For example, the Bible says that God made Adam out of dirt in His (God's) image roughly 6,000 years ago. This conflicts with the scientific origin of humans which says that humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor over the past three billion years. If science can prove that Adam did not come from dirt roughly 6,000 years ago what else in the Bible might not be literally true? Some people's answer is to put their fingers in their ears and deny science.

Some people then try to disprove evolution with questions such as "If monkeys evolved into humans why are there still monkeys?" and "If evolution were true why have we stopped evolving?". These questions disprove evolution about as much as "Can Gad make a rock too heavy to lift?" disproves the existence of God.

It seems to me, and many others, that to simply say "God did it" for anything we do not understanding is both a theological and scientific cop-out. The purpose of God is not to fill gaps in our understanding like stop-leak in a radiator.

Answer 2

Who says somebody can no longer? i'm going to take a theistic evolutionist over a creationist any day. nevertheless i do no longer see why a God is extremely mandatory if one believes in evolution and the huge Bang . . . yet i think of your theory of "human days vs. Heaven days" is purely an opinion. i've got not got self assurance it ever states a distinction in the Bible, nevertheless i've got no longer study it in a whilst - so i'd desire to be improper. i think of human beings purely use that so the theory that an afternoon in "God's words" is longer than an Earth day to make greater experience of the 6 day creation.

Answer 3

I don't think that you are completely accurate with your description of evolution as comparable to practical physics. The evolutionary theory does not explain everything about how the world came about, and has the theory of intelligent design to compete with. While evolution may be explained out of being a "religion" it definitely is a "faith".

Answer 4

I have always thought of evolution as a scientific theory, and nothing more. I have also seen scientists who believe in the theory of evolution, yet still hold their Christian beliefs. I am just as lost as you.

Answer 5

They think "belief" makes a religion and they think people that "believe" in evolution must therefore be part of a religion.

They say the same thing about atheism. It's really quite strange.

Answer 6

It is usually the folks who don't believe in evolution that label it as a religion. They label atheism is a religion, too. Many of us are in the same boat as you... we just don't get it.

Answer 7

Oh, they'll "enlighten" you alright, but it will all be crap.

At least one will say "Evolution isn't a fact, only a theory" like they know what they are talking about.

Answer 8

I think that some people can not imagine what its like to live without religion. It also makes them feel better about themselves to be snide about it.

Answer 9

They seem to think it's the opposite of their religion and therefore another religion

Answer 10

They keep on thinking of new ways to attack it as false.

That is simply one of their more pathetic ones.