Why does evolution offend so many of the religious?

Question

I'd like to pose the question: Is this a form of egocentrism?
The belief that we MUST be more important than we are? It reminds me of the Church's reaction to Galileo when he theorized the earth was not the center of the universe. He was absolutely pushed into a corner because of the belief by the religious that we HAD to be at the center. He was part of the church and he was forced to recant his theory and live the rest of life on house arrest on orders of the Inquisition, (the Church) -and we now know he was right.

Sometimes the Church eats it's own young.

So why is the idea of evolution so offensive? Fear of the unknown? We don't claim that the sun actually "rises and sets" like it literally says in the Bible do we? Why do we see science as against religion and push out the people to whom God gave a great mind for the patterns of nature or physics? Did God intend the Bible to be a scientific manual?

Are we afraid we are not as important as we'd like to be?

Answer 1

historically one of Christianities strongest and best qualities was its ability to adapt both itself and other cultures/beliefs in a way in which Christianity could absorb and be absorbed more effectively. this is no longer the case. since the 1800's most Protestant sects have gone from being adaptive to reactive, confronting and rejecting anything that doesn't line up with church dogma. The Catholic church also remains stubborn in the face of science and technology.

By doing so, modern day fundamentalist Christians are going to doom their own faith. by refusing to adapt to and accept scientific fact, Christianity will, over a period of several more centuries, take its place among the legions of the now forgotten and dead religions.

Answer 2

The Abrahamic faiths were created back when Solipsism was universally accepted as a correct description of reality. This means subjective experience -- also known as "spirituality" -- was thought to be the basis of reality. This is simply not true. The basis of reality is the physical realm, repeatedly proved beyond all doubt. Religious people prefer to think otherwise and this will be the undoing of Christianity.

The scientific revolution happened because the religious view was hopelessly in error. The Church (all churches) have failed to realize that all the faith in the world cannot turn a fundamental error into the truth. No amount of belief can convert the spiritual realm (subjective experience) into reality. This means Christianity is doomed, as long as it persists in ignoring the truth.

A possible alternative does exist. If Christianity confined itself to purely spiritual matters and left scientific matters to the scientists, millions of educated people would not be forced to choose atheism as the only truthful alternative to religious fanaticism. If the Church acknowledged that the physical realm is real and that spiritual matters are an emergent property arising from the complexity of that reality, the Church could then address those spiritual issues exclusively, without the need to constantly place itself at odds with science. I think evolution is needlessly offensive to the faithful because religion continues to refuse to acknowledge that reality is physical and that spiritual matters are based on subjective experience. Organized religion must either redefine itself to be consistent with the nature of reality, or it will be eliminated by a civilization that values scientific truth above religious superstition. The ignorant fools who speak out so vociferously against evolution are driving people away from Christianity in droves. It doesn't have to be that way!

Answer 3

I don' t find the idea of evolution offensive at all! I find it difficult that so many people deny the facts that there are fossils, and cave paintings , and the earth itself, that gives the indications of dinosaurs, and that there were cave men!
The Bible is a religious HISTORY of the people who lived, and the prophets that spoke for God! It is not a science book! In the days that the Bible was being written, most of those people had no concept of science! But science was going on all the time! Look at the Egyptians! They were doing surgery in Biblical times! Mummies show evidence of it! they also created method of preservation for bodies!
There is room for both evolution, and creationism! The time frame that God works with is completely unknown to us!
I believe in evolution by Intelligent design! Fits the facts, and fits the bible! What could be more simple?
But people are absolutely free to think what they want to!

Answer 4

I have never understood why this is such a source of contention. The Bible is the source for "Salvation History," of the story of the RELATIONSHIPS between God and Israel, Christ and humanity, humans and the Holy Spirit, Christians and the World, etc.

It isn't and shouldn't be seen as a human history book, or worse, a scientific text. Note the two different accounts of the creation just within Genesis! The point of Genesis is that God made the universe, it didn't just happen at random for no reason.

Remember, this story was written by and for Bronze Age people, who knew nothing of geology, genetics, microscopic beings...
people for whom a thousand years was an unimaginably long time and who were accustomed to the simplistic creation stories of pagan faiths. Early Judaism was revolutionary in its crazy idea of ONE God and that concept was hard enough for them

Adam and Eve in the story must be the ancestors of the Israelites specifically, not of everyone, otherwise where did their son Cain find a wife?

One more thought- how can we speak of "days" before the Lord separated the light from the darkness? That's just silly. Time is a *human* construct that we need to arrange our little lives and our history.

Answer 5

A small but vocal minority clings to the idea that the Bible is 100% literally, historically and scientifically true. Some people really do believe that the earth was created in six days (seven if you include a day of rest) in roughly 4,000 BC. They really do think that there were two humans on earth in 4,000 BC. They really do think that a flood covered the entire planet and only eight people survived etc. etc.

They consider any scientific, historical or archeological evidence to the contrary to be blasphemous. They also feel that if one sentence of the Bible is not literally true then maybe the entire book is not true. If the entire book is not true, maybe there is no forgiveness of our sins, maybe we do not really hold dominion over all plants and animals, maybe homosexuality is not an offense to God, etc. etc.

Answer 6

Evolution does not bother me a bit, I truly believe God created evolution.
The stories are not so different if you think what is a "day" to God?
Could it not be a kabillion years?
For sure He created the heavens and earth first, and that is exactly waht evolution says too.
Trying to say that a day consisted of 24 hours back then is trying to put God's timeline in a human perspective and perhpas that is wrong?
Evolution cannot explain how the whole thing got started, a lightening bolt struck some mud and created life, c'mon there has to be something that started it all.
Creationists cannot explain how some parts of the earth and fossils are as old as they are, but evolutionists can.
The two are NOT mutually exclusive theories and that is the real egocentrism, that the other guys theory is all wrong.

Answer 7

I keep trying to believe that the Fundies in here are just trolls and that they really can't believe the stuff they claim to. Then they turn around and prove that they are just as insane as they seem to be here in the real world.

If evolution is true then the Adam and Eve in the Garden story is not true.
If Adam and Eve never happened then they never sinned by eating an apple.
If this original sin is not real then there is no need for universal salvation.
If there is no need for universal salvation then there is no need for the universal savior Christ.
If Christ is not needed their multibillion dollar religion industry implodes.

Answer 8

Because the religious know that soon (maybe not in our lifetime though) , we will be able to prove that god does not exist. So really the people who are against these theories are desperate to hold on to the shreds of belief they still have, because they are scared that if the prescense of a greater being is disproven completely then they will not go to heaven and what we have been saying for years (you die, the end) is actually reality. i actually think people who need to defend a fictitious character in order to have a full life are a bit mentally deficient tbh. maybe its what stops them from going completely insane.Oh and if you ackowledge that dinosaurs existed then you can not believe the creation myth.

Answer 9

Well, nearly religions believe that a deity created life. Science doesn't know how life started, so that seems ok. Some fundamentalists, however, claim that evolution doesn't exist, because, according to their texts, the world was created about 10,000 years ago, instead of several billion. It's called the War on Common Sense.

Answer 10

Science isn't against religion, and there are God fearing scientist out there to prove it.
As for evolution, there is no proof positive that this happened. It is only a very fraud theory. Missing bones, lack of links and the list could go on and on.
Then there is the fact that if there was evolution we are not given the things we have now for any reason, it is just by chance. So life as we know it would be nothing more then a huge mistake.
That doesn't sound like a life I would want to live. God has given us beauty in creation, and all creation cries out to Him. He knew me when I was still in my mother's womb. So I will take a chance and follow the Lord God.