which is more misunderstood by christians? atheism or evolution?

Question

after playing in r&s for a while now, i am simply astounded at the level of ignorance shown by christians of all stripes regarding these two subjects. to be fair however, it is the catholics of all people who seem to be the most open minded about evolution, not in agreement mind you, but at least open to the possibility...

expertless...i don't know but it happens all the time...

Answer 1

Evolution. Most can manage a simple concept like, "no god", but any theory longer than a paragraph is distilled into, "we came from monkeys."

It's VERY disappointing.

Answer 2

Well, when you consider that evolution is neither science NOR logic, well - what can I say?

Darwin formulated his theory on faulty science.

He thought that the cell was the smallest divisible part of a living thing.

He started with that assumption, and carried the logic to it's pitiful end.

Of course, if he lived today, if he knew about such things as the nucleus, mitochondria, DNA, RNA, protein and protein synthesis within the cell, etc, etc, he would have NEVER gone off the deep end into a pool empty of water! It's just plain and simply intellectual suicide!

The living cell is so much more complex than - say - for instance, a Cray Supercomputer.

We understand that the Cray was designed, formulated, built and programmed by intelligent humans, and yet peope are still duped into believing that the cell, which is extremely more complicated than the Cray, was the result of an accident!

Here's a simple experiment. Don't go buy a Cray. Rather, just go out and buy a cheap mechanical Timex watch.

Take the watch apart, screws, springs, the works.

Put ALL the parts into a plastic baggie that can withstand heat. Don't lose any parts.

Seal the plastic baggie, and put it in the clothes dryer for 3 to 4 weeks - maybe a couple of months at most (equivalent time for equivalent complexity).

Pull out the plastic baggie, open the baggie, and if you can pull the watch out as one working unit, then you can believe in evolution.

But since you WON'T be able to pull out a fully functioning Timex watch, why do you delude yourself into thinking that the universe can come up with something as complex as DNA by pure accident?????

Maybe SOME body who reads this will get smart and do a little research.

For the rest of you, stuck in your little fantasy world, I can only guess that you'll just give me a thumbs down without even investigating the science. Too bad for you.

Additional comment:

Thanks for the "thumbs down". It just proves that I'm right when I keep saying that people don't believe in God because they don't WANT to believe. Your ignorance is showing when you refuse to do the necessary research, because if you HAD, you would know better, but you're too biased to think clearly. Again, too bad for you (*sigh*)

Answer 3

I think many people here are confused about Christians and evolution. I am a Christian. I am also a biologist who works in a molecular evolution lab. I understand evolution. I simply reject it. Call me stubborn, stupid, whatever you like. It is not going to change me.

Even saying I reject evolution is not 100% correct. I believe evolution does occur to an extent. I fully believe organisms adapt to their environment. I believe that organisms change and speciation can occur. However the whole molecules to man evolution is what I reject. The simple fact is it can never be proven. What we do is look at bits and pieces and try to see the whole picture from it. We interpret what the natural world shows us. This interpretation could in fact be wrong. Any scientist who tells you that evolution as it is now could not be proven wrong or changed is not being truthful.

Answer 4

a million. i'm going to be truthful, I do see it as a sort of concept, yet not comparable to a non secular concept, uncertain the thank you to describe it. yet you do make a reliable element. i assume it is not something I see as a brilliant deal that by some potential "proves" to atheists that they have "faith." 2. maximum Christians i understand, that's composed of me, do not probable think of that. I even have seen that often with older human beings my mothers and fathers (60s) and grandparents (90s) a while. i've got somewhat purely seen it between youthful human beings at right here. i'm not brushing aside what you're saying, purely saying what i've got seen. i understand there are those forms of Christians accessible of each age. 3. I believe you on that. 4. Agreed, purely like Christianity does not equivalent creationism (literal Genesis). Evolution is prevalent via many Christians. 5. i assume i don't probable attempt to. If somebody asks me questions, i'm going to respond to. I agree that some atheists have tried to "convert"me, yet unlike i've got seen some Christians flow at it. Pushing ideals on somebody gets you nowhere. (and that i'm not the pushy character style besides, lol)

Answer 5

Evolution is more misunderstood by (many-not all) Christians because it appears that they have a hard time reconciling the fact that they can accept the theory of evolution and STILL believe in God. The two are not contradictory. It puzzles me that they can't see that evolution does not negate their belief in God.

Answer 6

Most Christians accept evolution. It's just a few fundamentalist Protestant groups who don't. People need to realize that Creationism is almost exclusively an American movement. This country continues to be divided by squabbles over evolution while people in other countries accept it as fact and are passing us by in scientific discoveries and innovations.

Answer 7

Religious people, after Newton, Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein, faced with the preponderance of evidence, might throw evolution in with God's chosen method of creation and ultimately learn to accept evolution as "divine intervention."

Atheism, on the other hand, is at the core of the matter of spirituality. In fact, it has been so misunderstood that even today to say out loud in a public place "I am an Atheist" will make people turn and look at you as if you have said, "I am a murderer."

After 10,000 years of an education based on a million forms of mysticism, it is not surprising that Atheism is still a dirty word. Have you seen any school where pure, unadulterated Atheism is taught to children? Why not? Because it has been stigmatized over centuries and centuries by the moral monopoly in the hands of religions.

As it turns out, Atheism is the only logical CONCLUSION of a philosophy based on Reason. And Reason, not Faith, is what most people practice.

Since Faith is only a feeling and most religions demand us to follow faith-based precepts that are in contradiction with reality, only very, very few succeed in PRACTICING their Faith to an appreciable extent. Most so called religious people only practice their Faith with words and a few sacrificial actions. For the rest of their lives, they actually practice REASON, just like Atheists do. The fact is that Faith in a supernatural entity demands that we follow what that entity asks of us. If God asks us to be poor, to renounce pleasure, to prepare for the Afterlife, to live according to his will and not for our selfish desires, this is VERY hard to put into practice, and that's how a society of liars and hypocrites is born.

Now, it is possible to TRY to be coherent with Faith and follow literally everything a God might ask of us. That's what a true fundamentalist religious person tries to do. The heroes of religion are the martyrs of history, those fundamentalists who took Faith at face value and traded wealth, power, comfort for a life of poverty and suffering. If they were tortured and died for their Faith, that made them holy, sure that all their suffering in this life would be transformed in so much more pleasure in the Afterlife. One thing that true believers of this kind are not is that they are the only religious people who are not hypocrites.

Answer 8

i think atheism is more misunderstood. its been demonised by the christian churches so much.

evolution does not discount the possibility of god, plus there is actual evidence and even proof to support it, so they can't deny it if they just open their minds the tiniest bit. you can believe in evolution and still be christian, so they aren't as threatened by it.

atheism though is a complete rejection of everything they believe, and therefore is more of a threat. the fact that someone can just not believe in a divine creator is just unacceptable to them. despite the teachings of jesus who said to accept (and forgive if you find it neccessary) people for who they are.

Answer 9

I love the answer that says "an atheist is someone who does not believe in god, other than that they can be a normal person"....says a lot really.

I was going to say evolution is more misunderstood but I am starting to think, looking at all the answers you got, that they are equal.........

scary either way......

Answer 10

Wow, lets generalize people and make up stereotypes! We can all be bigots!

Truthfully I have found exactly the opposite. Most atheists on these boards seem to think evolution is an established fact and it is anything but.

I expect most Christians not to know much about evolution, why would they want to know about a fairy tale that they are not interested in?

The people claiming to believe in evolution, those are the ones I am amazed at.

From ridiculous questions that Darwin answered in Voyages of the Beagle to not knowing what people are made out of to thinking theories are facts the atheists on these boards constantly amaze me.

This is pretty strange for me since the atheists I know in person are not interested in petty details about religion and know a lot about evolution and science. Most of the atheists on these boards are exactly the opposite of the atheists I know in Real Life. Really weird.

Answer 11

I understand them both. I accept the theory of evolution and I have no problem with atheists. However, that may be because I'm Episcopalian and we are Catholic Lite.