Atheists, what is the best thing about evolution?

Question

1) It disproves the Genesis account
2) An understanding of it can lead to the creation of many new medicines and such

Only pick one. It seems virtually everyone thinks evolution is a tool to use against religion. Although I have my doubts of evolution, I think it can be very useful in medicine. For over a century we have debated religion vs evolution. Isn't it a shame that scientific principles are being used more to oppose religion rather than to create medicines? I think you should give up on caring about how someone thinks the world came to be or how many gods there are, and instead focus simply on science. The ancient Sumerians for instance performed complex eye operations. Would you rather they spent all their time debating how earth came to be? All these debates about how old the earth is or how we are related to chimps does not seem to help or benefit mankind.

Answer 1

One of the things which seems to cause many people to be inclined to rejecting evolution is the idea, often perpetuated by religious fundamentalists and scientific creationists, that evolution and atheism are deeply intertwined. According to such critics, accepting the evolutionary explanation for life on Earth necessarily leads a person to being an atheist (along with associated things like becoming a communist, immoral, etc.).

The problem is, none of this is actually true. Contrary to what many critics so often claim, evolution has nothing to say about the origins of the universe, the world, or life itself. Evolution is about the development of life; a person can accept evolution as the best explanation for the diversity and development of life on Earth while also believing that the Earth and life on it were first caused by God. As a result, there is no reason why a person cannot be a theist and also accept the theory of evolution.

Well, even if evolution does not cause a person to necessarily be an atheist, doesn't it at least incline a person to become an atheist? This is a more difficult question to answer. In reality, there seems to be little evidence that this is the case - millions and millions of people on the planet are theists who accept evolution, including many biologists and even biologists who are most directly involved with research on evolution. This suggests that we cannot conclude that acceptance of the theory of evolution inclines a person to atheism.

Personally, however, I'm not really sure why that is the case. Although it is true that evolution is not about the origins of life, and hence the way is left open for a god to be thought responsible for that, the fact remains that the process of evolution itself is incompatible with so many of the attributes traditionally ascribed to God in the West.

Why would the god of Christianity, Judaism or Islam produce us humans through a process which has required such untold death, destruction, and suffering over the course of hundreds of millennia? Indeed, what reason is there to think that we humans are the purpose of life on this planet - we've only taken up a small fraction of time here. If were were to use time or quantity and a standard of measurement, other life forms are much better candidates for the "purpose" of terrestrial life; moreover, maybe the "purpose" is yet to come and we are but one more stage on that path, no more or less important than any other.

Thus, while it may be wrong to say that accepting evolutionary explanations for life on Earth does not make a person more likely to become an atheist, it does seem appropriate to say that anyone who consciously considers and accepts evolution should think about it long and hard enough to cause them to seriously question some of their traditional religious and theistic beliefs. Such beliefs may not be abandoned, but they may not continue untouched

Answer 2

I think you are being a little simplistic here.

I am Christian and I think the scientific theory of evolution fits all the facts. My belief in God is not so small that I feel threatened by science. There is more to know about God than we will ever know, and thinking we can understand everything about God is (in my humble opinion) idiotic.

Evolution is not a way to develop new medicines. It is not designed to oppose religion.

Caring "how the world came to be" IS science! Science is about explaining things by extrapolating from known facts.

Since you are worried about this, why don't YOU get a degree in chemistry and biology, work on developing new medicines, and quit trying to make these silly arguments?

Answer 3

I do not consider it used to be began right here in any respect. It got here right here from different areas. That stated, it is most often the fundies who emerge as speaking that approach; such a lot atheists are educated ample to be conscious of the change among perception that there's no God and perception that evolution works, so atheists seldom bounce to the belief the equal approach the theists do.

Answer 4

In regard to all this debate over religion:

It doesn't matter whether we came from monkeys or God made us. All you really need to know is that we are here, right now as the beings we are.

And stop hating. Just becuase you think religion or science is lame doesn't mean you can rant on about it. Let people believe what they want to believe because you sure as hel! aren't going to change anyones core belief.

Answer 5

I also will go with #2. While many Christians may think science does more to oppose religion than to benefit humanity, I don't see it nor do I believe it's true. For the most part, scientists have little interest in discrediting religion and I doubt it even crosses their minds.

Answer 6

If forced to choose, I'd have to choose #1.

That's because at a fundamental level evolution and faith beliefs are in fact *incompatible*. And that's why people get all fussy about it. Evolution is the basis of all modern medicine and biology, and is now having a very direct impact on cognitive science, sociology, economics, and other fields. So, if you're willing to genuinely be logical about the debate, then ultimately you do have to follow the logical consequences of using evolution (a scientific investigation) or supernatural inventions to explain how stuff works, including medicine.

Answer 7

Obviously 2. Knowledge of scientific things greatly helps out our society. Evolution theory is a major part of modern biology, genetics, medicine, and other very useful things.

Answer 8

2. Most people do not think evolution is a tool to use against religion. On the contrary, many people think religion is a tool to use against evolution.

Answer 9

"Isn't it a shame that scientific principles are being used more to oppose religion rather than to create medicines? "

Where do you get that idea? Genetic research is going places we never dreamed of less than a decade ago.

Answer 10

I've never known science to "oppose" religion. It just happens to disprove many things claimed by religon. You are the one creating the conflict.