a question for all?

Question

who do you think understands the others beliefs more, atheists or christians? do atheists understand the creation story better then christians understand the evolution therory or vice versa

Answer 1

It depends on who you ask and what you ask. Some Atheists know more then some Christians, and visa versa. Neither group is made up of all-knowing members, nor is either group made up of all idiots. I think both have strong members, and some weak members who fall back on an "I'm right and you're wrong" policy equally.

Answer 2

This question can't be answered at this level of generality. If I had to look back on my own experiences, I think I've known an equal number of Christians and atheists who were basically ignorant of both theories. The Christian that dismisses the evidence that supports the theory of evolution is just as ignorant as the atheist that says there is no evidence to support the theory of creation. By the same token, I've known any number of brilliant people who understand both theories and have chosen one or the other to be their own personal belief.

Answer 3

Religion has nothing to do with it. An atheist can be as dumb as a box of rocks and the same goes for a christian. It all has to do with how open the person is to learning new things. I would say an atheist would be more likely to understand better but some atheists are as closed minded as some christians. The only reason I would say an atheist is because they are less likely to judge before knowing as many facts as they can stand. Where as a lot of christians are more likely to stop listening as soon as they hear something that contradicts what they believe. Though I don't really think religion matters it all has to do with the person.

Answer 4

As a Christian, who used to believe in evolution, I understand enough about evolution to know I no longer have enough blind faith to believe in it any more! However, I cannot understand how anyone with any intelligence at all could possibly deny the existence of God, especially if he *really* has any understanding of what the Bible actually says!

Mathematics and logic argue strongly *against* life on the third planet from a secondary star being at just the right distance from that star, with just the right atmosphere, tilted at just the right angle, evolving by random chance! And now, really, where did it all come from in the *first* place?

Hey, "John", just above or below my answer: Did you just say the universe was "created"?

Answer 5

I can't answer for anyone but myself. I am an atheist. I came to be an atheist because I understand christian beliefs: often better than they do. I have no belief in a god because there has never been presented to my satisfaction any proof whatever to support the hypothesis of a god. I am sure there are christians who understand evolution theory better than I. I don't HAVE to know how we all got here. That knowledge plays no practical role in my life.

AEN

Answer 6

Well...I can't speak for all Christians, but I had 8 science classes in high school and I have 3 this semester in college...in total, out of the 11, I'll have 4 biology classes...and I was taught pretty well about evolution, including MANY boring videos...

Answer 7

The book of genesis is only a short chapter of the Bible. Anyone with a high school education can finish reading it in one sitting. I doubt any non-biology major truly understands evolution.

Answer 8

Answer is Christians Do...

My Fellow Christians and Atheists alike should all agree and come to understand
if it is not God ~ It certainly is Something or Someone!!

1. The complexity of our planet points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it today.

2. The human brain's complexity shows a higher intelligence behind it.

3. "Chance" or "natural causes" are insufficient explanations.

To atheists: why would you spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that you don't believe even exists?!

To Christians: You know God exists because he pursues us. He is constantly initiating and seeking for us to come to him.
Unlike any other revelation of God, Jesus Christ is the clearest, most specific picture of God pursuing us.
"he said, I am the Light of the World"

I say whatever you Believe - May it sustain you.

Answer 9

Free thinkers not contaminated by religion are the best to understand evolution, and how the universe was created.

Answer 10

I can't speak for all atheists or all creationists; I can only speak from my experience and that has been that most creationists simply do not understand even a tiny fraction of what athesists believe.

First argument: Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

This has been so twisted around it is scary. Darwin never once said that man evolved from ape and yet the religious right has been pushing this lie for decades. All Darwin has ever stated was that human and ape, in fact all sapiens, have a common genetic ancestor. This is proven by modern science.

I have often heard that only 2% of genetic material separates apes and humanity and this makes sense to me. If you look at ape and humans very little truly separates us. Both species have the ability to use tools. Chimpanzees have been known to use tools to simplify life for decades. No, not microwaves and ipods but using a slender piece of straw to get at a tasty colony of termites. The single greatest gap between humanity and and all of the other animals is the ability to reason. As men far smater than I once wrote:

"Animals are clearly not machines, but neither are they slightly diminished human beings. Intellectual understanding is not found in any degree in any animal but man. The human capacity to understand the what and the why of things is unique in the animal kingdom. With respect to this faculty, man is different in kind from animals, not in degree. The difference between apes and other animals is one of degree, since they possess the same kinds of powers to a greater or less extent. But a greater gap separates man from ape than that which separates any two other natural creatures. (Augros, Robert [philosopher] & Stanciu, George [physicist], "The New Biology: Discovering the Wisdom in Nature", New Science Library, Shambhala: Boston, MA, 1987, p.82.

Second Argument: Understanding of the word "Theory". Most creationists that I have met do not even realize that the word has two, entirely contradictory definitions. Most creationists CHOOSE the use the definition of "contemplation or speculation" as their definition of the word when in the scientific world we use the definition "a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena".

In my experience, creationists fail to see the inherent difference of the words "theory" and "hypothesis" as those words relate to the scientific community.

Lastly, I have found that most creationists have absolutely no desire whatsoever to truly learn the viewpoint of your garden variety atheist. They simply feel it their duty to look down upon me, question my beliefs from a position of ignorance then take umbrage when I challenge their religious views and then use actual quotes from their very own bible to simply eviscerate their beliefs.

What amazes me is that even after I show them glaring inconsistencies in their "good book" they still refuse to look at the words with a clear mind.

Many are the time when I have had to "re-learn" a particular notion when I learned that my original position was wrong. Either I misread something or a new study was published which contradicted the knowledge I originally had.

I have yet to see a religious person do the same with the exception of writers such as David Mills. Once a devout Catholic he turned away from religion only after truly studying his beliefs, consulting the bible and finding the contradictions within.

Maybe that's why one of the definitions of faith is "belief that is not based on proof".