How does an Atheist know which theory of the origins of life to believe in???

Question

this is normal, you ask a simple question to atheists and all you get is angry babble......

Answer 1

they believe whatever they are taught in school .. some even believe the theories to be fact because thats how its presented ..

Answer 2

Since, over time, there have been many theories of evolution, including such things as Spontaneous Generation, it will be interesting to see what answers you get.

Darwin's Theory is claimed to be both fact and theory. However prior theories of evolution, now discarded, were considered to be factual also! Darwin got a great boost on the tides; with the Beagle and the tide of manifest destiny.

For my part I believe there is an evolutionary process at work; but I do not believe Darwin's theory has it nailed or that a concept of evolution disproves God.

There are so many personal and political agendas afloat in the 'evolutionary educational' community that the very subject of more than one theory or past errors brings denial.

I will follow the answers with interest. Good question.

Answer 3

They have an open mind - they can look at every theory - test it - consider it - and then make up their own mind.

Pseudo Christians - only one idea allowed!!

Three weeks ago the Pope - yes that is right - the Pope. Said the evidence is there for evolution in the past few thousand years but because evolution spans millions of years the final proof will probably never be found!!!!

Come on then pseudo Christians - the most senior Christian says that and you still rail against it!!!!

You obviously believe that God was too silly, unintelligent and stupid to be able to use evolution as the tool of creationism!!!!!

So much damage being done to Christianity by so many fools!!!

Answer 4

It is true that there is no absolute fact of the origins. There are a lot of data which must be analysed and verified and fit into the framework where shown probably correct, or discarded if not.

At the end of the day science does not have all the answers, and has never claimed to. What science does have is the ability to hold each new piece of information against what is already known and discard it if it doesn't fit. The evolutionary theory is complex enough that anything going into it now has to be compared against so much that it almost has to be absolute fact in order to pass. If you think that scientists just randomly slot data into the framework and see if it hangs right, you are dead wrong. The more complex the theory is, the harder it is to join it all together and the closer to being fact it must be.

There are different explanations for some of the theory. These are held up for analysis against the whole and tested for accuracy. Can they all be true? No, of course not. But it would be wrong to discard one branch because science is not certain that one explanation is wrong. If there was only one explanation for the parts of evolutionary theory then I would be extremely skeptical.

It really is a case of one undeniable fact in contravention of the theory being enough to shatter it. This hasn't happend, despite repeated attempts. That's fair indication of the validity of evolution.

Answer 5

Oh, come on! You ask a daft question with a snide subtext, and then act all surprised when people are peeved. Bit disingenuous, don't you think?

Those atheists who are concerned about such things - probably not a majority - will presumably follow with interest the ongoing progress in the study of abiogenesis. There's no call for anyone to plant a flag and say 'That's it - I'm going to believe that from now on'

Science is on the case. Which theory of quasar jet formation do YOU support?

CD

Answer 6

Unlike christians, Atheists do not need to believe in anything. We seek out the truth and through science, as the truth changes so does our view of reality. It is a fluid ever changing process, unlike the rigid, dogmatic and dusty cannons of religion. Religion only changes when it is forced to do so by overwhelming evidence. And even then it does it kicking and screaming. The religious belief that the Earth was the center of the universe, for example.

Answer 7

An athiest will tend to choose the "origins" theory (origins here I'm taking to mean as the beginning of our species) that science and logic support. You'll often find athiests believing in evolution, because they don't accept any god-creation myths, as these require faith (no scientific proof) rather than hard science and logic, but a large variety of opinions (rather than beliefs) can be found.

Now, when it comes to creation-of-the-universe and whatnot, it gets down to a pick-your-favorite-theory matter, because there really isn't a whole lot of science to support these--yet. Someday science may be able to explain how life began, but as of yet we're just waiting for the technology. :)

Answer 8

i've got faith we are the end results of the infant from Mr. Magorium's ask your self Emporium. He made us all out of Lincoln Logs. seem, I merely don't think in an all-powerful entity who loves us. this is not my fault that the thumpers tale went lame as quickly as a results of fact the race started out. I propose, come on. All efficient dude loves us ? Do you sense that even a comparatively efficient dude loves you ? Say... bill Gates or Donald Trump ? no longer to show somebody who could make you reside 25 consistently, insure which you commonly come a minimum of three or 4 circumstances, pay your lease and shop you from having the monthlies (i don't comprehend why i anticipate you're female) ?

Answer 9

Well now. Let me see. The main ones for me are evidence, predictive power, and Occam's Razor.

It also depends what you mean by origins of life. If you are referring to the origin of what led to the earliest life forms, we are pretty sketchy as to exactly how that came about. (This is, in fact, where one of science's greatest features is - science admits where there are gaps that are still to be filled!). Our understanding is getting better, but we don't know for sure.

If, by origin of life, you're referring to evolution, we're going to have to start with the basics.

It's already been pointed out by others, but you have to watch out for the correct usage of the word "theory". I know you probably won't take this in, but I'll say it anyway in the hope that if you hear it enough times you'll understand eventually. "Theory" in a scientific context does not mean the same as in everyday usage. It does not mean a guess or a hunch! A valid scientific theory is an explanation for a phenomenon or process that is consistent with, and supported by, all available evidence. Once evidence accumulates that contradicts a theory, it is no longer deemed to be valid, and gets rejected by the scientific community. Phrenology is one example.

The theory of evolution is supported by millions of pieces of independent evidence. For a start, around 1.5 million of the estimated 5 million species on the planet have so far been described in the literature. Not one species has been found whose existence would not be expected to emerge as a result of evolutionary processes (you don't find a mouse with feathers, for example). Of hundeds of thousands of pieces of evidence from different fields of research, nothing has been found that is inconsistent with evolutionary theory: the fossil record, carbon-dating, genetics, parasitology, botany, zoology, measures of continental drift, linguistics. The list goes on and on.

Meanwhile, the whole of modern biology, medicine, and pharmeceuticals are based on evolutionary theory. New drugs keep having to be redeveloped to cope with the fact that viral infections quickly evolve resistence to the old ones!

Do some reading. Aside from anything else, this stuff is fascinating! Read Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene - it's from before he got on his high horse about religion. You might even learn something.

This answer is going on a bit. You'd never guess I'm meant to be studying for an exam, would you?

Answer 10

The same way everyone knows whether or not the left-overs in the fridge are still good to eat. We give it a little test, make a critical decision, keep the good stuff, ditch the icky stuff.

We test theories on the origins of life against our own world view (just like you do), use our intellect to decide whether or not that theory is reasonable to us, and then we either decide it works for us or we discard it. Just like you do.

An example? Theory of evolution. Does it agree with the principles as laid out in the bible (test phase against a Christian world view)? The Bible says that life on earth was created in the 5th and 6th day of creation. Evolution says it took millions of years and went through various stages application of critical thinking). No, the theory of evolution does not fit in with the Christian world view (critical decision).

For an atheist, it's the same as for you. We just use a different world view, one that excludes deities. We develop our beliefs as to what the world is like through experience and time. No, we don't have a book that lays it all out for us, so we have to think about things. Or we just ignore what we don't want to think about. Just like you do. Just like I do. Just like everyone else does.

Answer 11

I've read volumes on the subject. Once all the impossibilities have been discarded, the remaining answer is the most probable.

Edit: Do you consider it to be babbling because you're unfamiliar with the concept of rational thought, or because we use so many multisyllables?