Do you think some people choose not to believe in the theory of evolution because...?

Question

...they feel it gives our lives no meaning? I just read an answer to another question where someone said they choose to believe in creationism because believing in evolution means that there's no real point to our lives. To me, this seems rather self-serving. So basically you'd rather believe in something with absolutly no evidence or logical thought because then you feel there is a point to your life? Just because you believe in evolution doesn't mean that our lives are pointless.

Tree: I don't want to sound rude, but your answer shows that you don't understand evolution, at least not the evolution of humans. That doesn't make sense because we didn't evolve from monkeys or apes. The basic idea is that humans and chimps have a common ancestor that branched off into different branches. One branch continued to evolve animals such as apes, monkeys, gorillas, etc. The other branch is where humans evolved from.

Tiramausu: First of all, it's possible to believe in evolution and god. Why can't the answer be that god created the earth at the beginning and then we evolved from there? Evolution doesn't completely negate the possibility of a god. Also, the fact that we might be punished for the bad things we did and rewarded for the good things we did doesn't give our lives meaning. When people do this, they're just treating their lives as an ends to a mean: to get into heaven. Believe it or not, some people actually do good things just because it's the right thing to do or because they just like being nice. Not everyone needs to believe that there will be some great reward at the end to do something good.

Answer 1

To me, it is more satisfying to consider the world as a product of billions of years of evolution in which all species are related by common ancestry. It's quite amazing, both comprehensible and mind-boggling at the same time.

As for evolution, many people do not like it because it interferes with their religious beliefs or sense of purpose (in which humans play a grand scale apart from, not integrated with nature). They want to shrink the world into a simple set of beliefs that says it was 6,000 years old and that there is no room for ambiguity or complexity in their books. That seems like an incredibly confining view of things.

And of course, evidence should be the defining factor in the validity of a scientific theory, not a good feeling.

Answer 2

Science has evolution down as being documented by factual, viewable by anyone, evidence. Where does the need for belief come in? It is sooo easy to believe in almost anything, and that is why so many people choose to believe, rather than to research out the truth, or wait for proof. With belief, you can have all of the answers to life's most pressing questions; and don't you look good with so much knowledge?
Life is a 4 letter word with a definition, and it has a meaning, but it is the language that you use in your private conversation with your own self that must give your life meaning. All else is fantasy.

Answer 3

It's always amazing to hear the deniers come out of the woodwork whenever this question comes up.

Idiots refuse to believe in evolution because they are idiots with very little education - and the ones that scream about having an education usually got it from a bible college.

There are NO scientists who believe in "Intelligent Design" none - in fact most of the names listed on an ID website are hundreds of years old.

Everything evolves, we are learning that even Memes evolve, denying this fundamental prnciple of the universe is stupidity - the exact same kind of blind stupidity that got us where we are as a nation right now.

I'm also amazed how many Christians think the Old Testament is real - Um, speakin as a Jew, who spent 14 years in Yeshiva, ITS NOT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY. We know that its a metaphor, the creation story in the Bible is simplified for the audience of its time, yet every time you turn around there is a Christian quoting out of OUR book (yours is the New Testament: remember? You had to be "New" and have a better character with a better ending) which they clearly do not understand. Any Rabbi will be more than happy to take the time to explain why Creationism is ridiculous. After all, we've spent the last 3500 years arguing and studying the old testament, we know it better than you do.

And I'd also like to point out that nearly every interpretation of Old Testament m,aterial by Christians is, in fact, WRONG - not just the creation myth. We think its kind of funny how much Creationists MISS THE POINT!

Answer 4

OK, this is a good question, with many implications. I don't' think that believing in X or Y is good or bad. This are just personal believes, and as long as anyone gets hurt, people can just believe what they want.
BUT I think that people who choose to believe in creationism (or similar) are wasting their capacity to rationalize (not trying to make an offense here). And I also believe that only those who can face the fact that life is not always fair and that the sense of life depends only on each individual person can actually have a strong sense of self. I actually find honorable and remarkable the kind of people that has seen how f**d up life is, and still remains a believer (a coherent one, not just any believer).

Answer 5

The theory of evolution is one intricate explanation of a possible origin. It isn't reality, but an observation-based theory--still tenable and put under the test through time until a better theory arises. Creationism is the religious explanation found in Bible which may or may not appeal to some due to its simplicity and lack of convincing punch. It is an allegory of God initiating the order of the earth from void and creating matter and energy. It is a lot more abstract and does not satisfy the scientific mind. At this point, we'd consider that if a person absolutely can not accept the story of creation, at least consider it an figurative allegory. I'm a christian who considers literal interpretation to fly in the face of reason; however, it would create more turmoil and chaos in my order and framework if I start to jettison portions of the bible to my whim and fancy.

I call myself a christian because I believe in God, but that doesn't mean I am undiscerning of what agrees with reason within the framework of world with God. I don't particularly have anyting against evolution and take all theories with a grain of salt. There is no reason to slash it, as much as there isn't a reason to slash the creation story which to me is a big allegorical message.

Answer 6

I think that you are correct: despite the strong genetic and other physical evidence favoring it, some folks don't believe in evolution because it interferes with their particular religious sentiment.

It certainly doesn't have to be that way.

Noted Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin believed in evolution, and that man was the apex of the evolutionary process -- the thing to which all other life on earth points. He opined that man himself is still in evolution -- progressing towards what he called the "Omega Point."

Many mystical traditions are also congenial to the fundamental concept of evolution. Some such traditions teach that humans are continuing to evolve, and that some very specific biological developments will usher in the next stage of that evolution. They believe that we are increasingly moving away from genetic evolution, and increasingly towards memetic evolution. In such groups, it is axiomatic that "nature unaided always fails," so that the "completion" of human evolution will be directed by our own consciousness.

Similarly, while modern Mormonism adopts a very conservative position regarding evolution, its theological model is in fact very congenial to the idea of evolution. As in progressive Christian and mystical tradtions, Mormonism teaches that man continues to evolve, in a process called "Eternal Progression." Here, the end state of man is "godhood," meaning of course some ideal human state, in which we are "at cause" not only over our environment, but over matter itself -- i.e., in which we are no longer subject to the elements, but rather they are subject to us.

Things evolve over time; this is beyond dispute. Humans even breed animals for evolutionary change. So, the only question here is whether human beings have evolved in a manner similar to other living things on the planet. I think the evidence strongly favors this, and that is why evolution is a theory and not simply a hypothesis.

Different religious traditions engage the idea of evolution in various ways; I suspect the traditions which endure will be those which acknowledge what our own "reading" of the Book of Nature makes clear.

Answer 7

Hahahaha...I love that people think without religion we'd all just be at each others' throats (as if it's stopped us...)
Evolution gives life meaning. Our entire purpose here is to ensure that our species (and more importantly, our bloodline) continues, by whatever means necessary - whether by reproducing, helping to raise children, or even just making the life of your fellow man easier or richer. This philosophy leads to a very altruistic society...everyone existing for the betterment of each other. This is the belief system (or a close approximation thereof) of the Secular Humanist movement.
Now tell me your life has more meaning because an invisible man in the sky created you, and if you're a good boy you'll live forever....

Answer 8

Some people have no imagination; and Christians are a perfect example.
All Christians are cowards that fear death without an afterlife.
They keep fooling themselves about Heaven and Hell and forget to live their lives here and now to the full.
Creationism is just an easy way out; any fool can say that god made the universe but not every fool is able to question that and to understand the science that proves them wrong.
They don't know better.

Answer 9

Yes, I do think this is a huge part of why people won't embrace evolution. It's the same reason the church railed against Galileo when he showed that the Earth wasn't at the center of the universe. He was absolutely right, but his evidence meant that God hadn't given Earth the special place in the universe that the church had believed.

Galileo wasn't attacking religion. He was just showing us the way things are, rather than the way we want them to be. The same goes for evolution today.

It's hard for some people to let go of their comforting beliefs that make them feel special in their God's eyes. 2,500 years ago, the Buddha taught that one of the reasons people suffer is because reality doesn't conform to their expectations. And you can see it right here on this site, when people lash out in anger and hostility at anyone who would dare threaten their creationist worldview. They're being told something that invalidates the way they *want* the world to be. They cling desperately to their beliefs, and it causes them anguish.

But the facts speak for themselves. And 400 years from now, their descendants will laugh in amazement at these folks for so staunchly defending the Creation story, just as we can laugh at the church for lashing out against Galileo for opposing what we know now is a scientific fact.

Answer 10

Evolution is science. It has been observed in the wild, it has been demonstrated in laboratories. It is a fact. The way in which evolution works is the theory. Gravity is a fact. The way gravity works is the theory.

Like physics, chemistry, biology, geology, cosmology, astronomy etc, evolution is science. It is not a question of "belief". You can reject science and mathematics if you choose to do so but you need a good excuse to do so. Saying the observable fact of evolution is a question of belief is to reject all science. You can't pick and choose.

Fortunately only a minority of Old Testament Fundamentalists reject science, the majority of people in the majority of religions, including Christianity, are happy with science.