Actually, why is evolution a religious issue?

Question

I should really have posted my last question (concerning evolution) in the biology section, but I didn't. What possessed me to seek answers here and not there?

Answer 1

Well, it's not a religious issue for scientists... but it is an issue with the religious, because it's another kick in the nuts for the 'God of the Gaps'. Essentially, it's a turf war... and on one side (science), you've got some guy who is strolling through his yard, looking up at the sky, oblivious... and he accidentally kicks over an ant hill (religion) that he's not even aware of. On the other side (religion), you've got the ants scurrying about, trying to put their ant-hill back together again... and trying to figure out a way to destroy the big dumbass (science) who messed up their place... and the poor guy STILL doesn't realize that he screwed up their ant hill... and probably wouldn't care, even if he DID know.

From the perspective of science, the origin of the universe ranks as an interesting physics and cosmology problem. The origin of life ranks as an interesting organic chemistry and biology problem. Science essentially is oblivious to god... to religion... to the idea of 'creation'... and rightfully so. Science is essentially a set of meta-procedures that provides us with a disciplined way to look for natural explanations for natural things. The presumption of science is that everything that can exist and anything that can occur in the universe is, by definition, natural... even if we cannot presently understand it or explain it. Again, this is as it should be. When Napoleon asked Laplace why he did not mention god in his book (a mathematical description of the motion of the planets, derived from Newton's laws of motion), he replied: "Sire, I have no need of that hypothesis."

Religion doesn't see it that way, though:

* At the bleeding edge of science, at the point where it REALLY starts to get interesting, SCIENCE says: "We don't know... OK, boys... let's roll up our sleeves, dig in and find out."

* At the bleeding edge of science, at the point where it REALLY starts to get interesting, RELIGION (imagine South Park - Officer Barbrady) says: "That's too complicated. God did it. Move along. Nothing to see here. Everybody go home now."

Religion exists in a strange netherworld between two logical fallacies (flaws in thinking). The 'Argument From Incredulity'... also known as the 'Divine Fallacy'... goes something like this: "I can't understand (or imagine) how that might have come to be; therefore, God did it." Then there's the 'God of the Gaps' fallacy. The God of the Gaps lives at the bleeding edge of science... and religionists view the advances of science as an encroachment into their territory. They are at war, fighting a rear-guard action against the advance of knowledge and reason... and the preoccupied scientists, for the most part, don't even know they're in a fight.

Science doesn't attack god. That is true from the perspective of science... as I said, science is oblivious to god... he/she/it is simply out of scope. From the standpoint of the religiose, though, 'knowledge' is the mortal enemy... and because science is a primary source of knowledge, it has become the primary target. Science takes away the earth being the center of the universe, and the focus and purpose of all creation... the god of the gaps gets his butt whipped. Next thing you know, lightening is just an electrical discharge... not a manifestation of the wrath of god. The god of the gaps got his butt kicked again. Disease is caused by germs, not demons. Ouch. Planets aren't wandering stars... they are bodies that orbit the sun. Whap. Stars aren't little lights that God placed upon the firmament (the solid barrier between heaven and earth... i.e., the sky) to give us a way to prognosticate... they are actually suns, like our own, only very, very far away. God of the Gaps gets kicked right in the nuts... although not before Giordanno Bruno gets burned at the stake for daring to suggest this. And on, and on, and on. The God of the Gaps has NEVER won a fight with science... NOT ONCE. Every time there is a scrimmage between science and the God of the Gaps, another gap gets filled up with knowledge, and the God of the Gaps slinks away, with his tail between his legs... or like a cockroach, revealed by the kitchen light. Earth isn't 6,000 years old... it's 4.5 BILLION years old. G of G gets kicked in the nuts again. And on and on... and on.

Well, they're tired of getting kicked in the nuts... so, they've changed tactics. Rather than fighting the battle on the basis of knowledge and evidence, they fight it on the basis of lies and misdirection. Science won't engage them... heck... it won't even acknowledge them. So, rather than engaging science, they just appeal to their constituency... which is scientifically ignorant for the most part, anyway... and feeds them a bunch of plausible sounding pseudo-scientific lies. Take 'Intelligent Design'. The strategy is not to argue this on a scientific basis... it is to "Teach the controversy"... except in the scientific community, THERE IS NO CONTROVERSY. But their constituency doesn't go to the scientific community for their scientific information... no... they go to the people they TRUST... their SPIRITUAL LEADERS... and they get fed pseudo-science, misrepresentations and lies.

"What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church...a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them." ~ Martin Luther, in a letter in Max Lenz, ed., Briefwechsel Landgraf Phillips des Grossmuthigen von Hessen mit Bucer, vol. 1.

Willful ignorance, lies and delusions are winning. Science is losing. The God of the Gaps, FINALLY, is holding the line against knowledge, reason and critical thought.

So, while it is true that science doesn't attack god, that doesn't really matter... because as long as they PERCEIVE science (in general) to be an attack on god, we're going to be in an ongoing fight. At some point, in the near future, we need to wake up and realize that, or we're going to end up back in the Dark Ages.
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Answer 2

Because we tell our children that God created everything and it was good!
Science teachers are preaching magic to our kids in school these days like the big bang theory but have no explanation or even a theory on where the single atom came from that supposedly exploded into our whole universe. Then they take physics later in their education and are taught that a body in motion stays in motion till acted upon by another force. So how did the planets wind up in orbit if all particular matter was traveling away from the center of the big bang at the same velocity? We as Christians have a certified written document telling us how it all happened and it is yet to be proven wrong.

Answer 3

It is not both are seprate issuses , there is evolution , change within the species not change to another. Man in some places got taller in others short or darker or different shaped eyes yet they are still human ..But some want to belive man came from the same old ape theroy and try to eliminate God , and thats when it becomes a religious issue .

Answer 4

Because evolution runs contrary to the bybo. Since the bybo is supposed to be inerrant, that means anything contrary to it proves it isn't actually inerrant. If the bybo is wrong about creation, it is no longer absolutely right about everything, including the whole "Big Sky Spirit will let you into the Magic Kingdom if you suck up to him enough" and "everything is part of Big Sky Spirit's plan" parts.

That means that not only do the True Believers go to the Magic Kingdom when they die, but their imaginary friend isn't actually watching over them 24/7 to make sure their life has meaning.

This terrifies them.

So, long story short: weakness and stupidity.

Answer 5

Some people accuse evolution of attempting to prove that no god or supernatural being exists. The fact of the matter is, evolution has absolutely nothing to do with religion and god. Evolution does not attempt to say how the universe was first created. It merely discusses how species have evolved over time.

Answer 6

I'll tell you why. Evolution posits a view that we evolved from apes. Do apes have an immortal soul? No. So, do we the supposed descendants have an immortal soul? No.

In REALITY does every human ever born have an immortal soul? Yes.

Beginning to see why its conclusions are so erroneous, perverse and dangerous? Can you see how the whole "theory" is designed to create a disbelief in Almighty God? I could go on and on, but you're smart enough to get the picture. ;)

ADDENDUM.

Good grief! We have duckphup ranting again. lol and Catherine E. lol

duckphup who in another post basically admitted that (my words in the quotation marks) "We jus' plum dunno how da universe was created". And, as long as duckphup prefers to wander around in the ether exploring the realms of hypothetical fantasy he wont ever know. :0 But the difference is: Christians have conviction that we actually do know.

Answer 7

Because, if the story of evolution is completely true, then Genisis is completely false. People must decide to take a more literal view on science vs. Genisis, or choose to believe that Genisis is symbolic (for example: a "day" being millionds of years) There's no right answer, except to the one who is reading this right now.

Answer 8

Because some people feel that evolution tramples on their specific coneption of God.

Others attempt to make the correlation that Evolution disproves God completely.

Both extremist viewpoints are locked in against each other - alternative rubrics/conceptions do not matter to them.

IE: Buddhists of all stripes, Daoists, Hindus, Neo-Pagans, Pantheists, Deists, and heck even Catholics and Orthodox Christians - get out of the debate, your not invited to the SUPER MEGA BASHING Session between Evangelical Christians and Aggressive Atheists. ;-)

Answer 9

Evolution is in effect a religion.It takes Faith to believe that all life evolved from nothing.It takes even more blind faith to disregard the evidence of intelligent design. Evolution's 19th century Prejudices break down when exposed to modern science and technology.At the molecular level 19th century evolutionary thought falls apart.

Answer 10

I believe evolution is the process God used to create. I believe His whole creation took millions and indeed, billions of years to make the galaxies, stars and humans. I don't believe He twitched His nose like "Bewitched" and poof, there is a cow! I am a Geologist and my studies led me to God due to the complexity of life, the fact that I think things were put here specifically for our enjoyment, fulfilled prophecy, plus evil is a mystery-no one creates just to destroy-there is something going on in the spiritual realm. Plans are being fulfilled for some reason. There seems to be a creator who is good and something that opposes said creator.

Answer 11

It's really not a religious issue. Some religious people try to make it a religious issue for the same reason that they used to jail people for saying that the sun was the center of the universe, and the Earth revolved around *IT*, and not that everything else revolved around the Earth.