why do you want to believe in evolution?

Question

I just don't understand why you'd basically want to believe that your meaningless? like if you died right now you have no effect on anything what so ever, your basically fertilizer! Isn't that depressing? Why are you so against religious people? I mean if we're wrong so what? I mean in MY understanding elvolution has caused a lot of problems for millions of people resulting in their death, for example I've read several scientific articles saying that African Americans are less evolved that cocasians? Are you comfortable following a theory that states that? Hitler slaughtered all those jews because of social darwinism, survival of the fittest? Does that not disturb you in the slightest?

Answer 1

You know... I just think it's funny that the theory of Evolution has been disproved so many times that no one really seems to care anymore. The Bible, on the other hand, has been proven to be a reliable history book, in which that its events really did happen. But, once again, no one really cares about that either.

No Evolutionist can say they believe in it because it's fact and the Bible isn't, because it's the other way around.

Thus, it IS a matter of what you CHOOSE to believe.

By the way, I think everyone's just too lazy to drop the theory. We don't have anything better, so we'll just stick to Evolution until the next theory of the beginning of the world comes up!

-Kara

Answer 2

I just don't understand why you'd basically want to believe that your meaningless?

--Not believing in God does not mean that your life is meaningless.

like if you died right now you have no effect on anything what so ever, your basically fertilizer! Isn't that depressing?

--Sometimes. Life can be depressing. Retreating into fairy tales is not the solution, however.

Why are you so against religious people?

--I'm not. I'm against religious people changing the laws of my secular nation to suit their own purposes.

I mean if we're wrong so what?

--Well, to modify Pascal's Wager so it makes some modicum of sense, if you're wrong and I'm right, you go to your grave still believing in a delusion, and I go to mine with some mild satisfaction at having figured the world out a tiny bit. If we're both wrong and Quetzalcoatl is the one true God, then we're both going to Feathered Serpent Hell. Of course, this is only a downgrade for you, since if you're right, I'm already going to Fiery Brimstone Hell.

I mean in MY understanding elvolution has caused a lot of problems for millions of people resulting in their death,...

--Life has caused problems for millions of people resulting in their death. Understanding the mechanism of evolution does not change this. However, I'd still recommend learning a bit more about it.

...for example I've read several scientific articles saying that African Americans are less evolved that cocasians?

--Humans are all the same species. You may note that a black person and a white person can successfully produce offspring. The only scientific use of less evolved would be to say that a predecessor species was less evolved than the current one.

Are you comfortable following a theory that states that?

--I'd be rather uncomfortable following a theory that states that Africans are less evolved than Caucasians. Fortunately, the ToE says no such thing.

Hitler slaughtered all those jews because of social darwinism, survival of the fittest?

--Social Darwinism is not Evolution. Evolution operates on a species level. Social Darwinism mistakes a scientific theory for a moral imperative, and ignores utterly the fact that altruism developed in our species too.


Does that not disturb you in the slightest?

--What disturbs me is how common your misunderstandings of the theory of evolution are.

Answer 3

It's not a question of "wanting" to believe in it. Most people that believe in evolution do so because it's more grounded in the physical world than any religious theory; it's more realistic. This sort of people don't determine what they believe based on what they "want" to, but rather based on what makes the most sense to them.

"like if you died right now you have no effect on anything what so ever, your basically fertilizer!"
This is unrelated to the theory of evolution. We can choose to commit actions which make a difference in the world for better or worse. Just ask Marie Curie, Sojourner Truth, John Lennon, e e cummings, or Albert Einstein.

"Isn't that depressing?"
Not to me ^^

"Why are you so against religious people?"
I'm not. Believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want, 'kay?

"for example I've read several scientific articles saying that African Americans are less evolved that cocasians?"
Black people and white people have both evolved significantly since the time that human life began in Africa. The difference is that black people have more noticeable VISIBLE traits in common with the ancient people because of the similar climate. Besides, being "more evolved" doesn't necessarily mean "better," since any relevant adaptations the article might mention would be physical, not mental.

"Hitler slaughtered all those jews because of social darwinism, survival of the fittest? Does that not disturb you in the slightest?"
Social Darwinism =/= evolution, and besides, Hitler twisted everything he touched. He corrupted Nietzche, he corrupted religion, he corrupted beauty and art... he was an evil man with horrible psychological problems.

Answer 4

Just because I, for instance, agree with evolution does not mean that I think life is meaningless. Everything we do affects other people. I try to live as happily as I can without harming others. I find meaning in being a decent human being. That is all the meaning in the world that I personally need. I agree with you~anyone who can't see or accept that life has meaning and that we all affect each other is out of his/her mind.

I am personally not against religious people. I don't want religion eradicated.

I don't think Africans are "less evolved" than any other "race."

Also, Darwin did not create the institution of thought called Social Darwinism. That is a perversion of his theory, which, very sadly, people have used to persecute others. Social Darwinists DO disturb me, but the theory of evolution itself does not.

Sincerely,
Thenne

Answer 5

It's not a question of what I "want". That's how it is.

If I died right now, I'd "shuffle off this mortal coil" hopefully having had a positive affect on all the lives I've helped through the years.

Depressing? No, why would it be? I'm here now, and I plan to do things while I'm here (including helping people).

I'm not against religious people. I'm against those who would use an out-dated belief system to attempt to interfere with what I believe (through logic & reason) is right.

If you kept your religion to yourself, being wrong wouldn't be a problem.

Your understanding of evolution needs to start with the simple concept that it is descriptive, meaning: it describes the world around us as it actually is. It is not an ideology with goals that attempt to shape things in any way.

There are no peer reviewed scientific articles that I'm aware of that suggest that African Americans are "less evolved that cocasians"[sic]. Anthropologists, among other scientists, don't considered any homosapiens "less" evolved than any other homosapiens. In fact, "less evolved" and "more evolved" are term thrown about by racists who don't know the first thing about evolution. The fact is, every living thing IS evolved, and those living things not faced with extinction will continue to evolve.

I'm comfortable with the theory of evolution because the theory of evolution doesn't state that. Racists do.

No, Hitler was able to slaughter millions of jews because of the pre-existing anti-semitism of the European Christians at the time. Hatred of the jews didn't begin in 1933. It began with the earliest European Christians.

For the record I find "social darwinism" to be abhorrent, and evolution through natural selection to be a reality I need to neither applaud nor condemn. Social Darwinism is an ideology with goals designed to benefit its proponets. It has nothing to do with Charles Darwin's well-supported theory of evolution through natural selection. The key word being "natural". There is nothing natural about social darwinism.

[edit]
"Louis Pasteur, the French scientist, disproved the theory of "spontaneous generation," which is what evolution is based on..."

No it's not. The theory of evolution explains the vast amount of bio-diversity we see in nature. Just like the theory of gravity, and germ theory, It DOESN'T concern itself with the origin of LIFE, just the origin of species. That's why Darwin titled his book: "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life."

Answer 6

It's not about belief. It's about accepting facts.

Just as a diabetic must accept the fact they're in for a lifestyle change if they want to live, a believer should accept the fact of evolution. It says nothing about religion, only what is observable in nature.

Missapplying science to politics does not make evolution wrong. Hitler was a professing Christian. Stalin was a Christian.

The top physicist in the United States is a black man, Sylvester James Gates.

The best, I mean BEST brain surgeon in the world is an African-American, Dr. Benjamin Carson. He has to really go through tough times as he always has the worst cases.

So much for less evolved.

Answer 7

How how how does evolution make life meaningless? You are not thinking this through, Hon. Stop listening to persuasive preachers and start devoting time and effort to thought. They want to you to think you are nothing without GOD. It puffs them up. Get it?

You are what you are and you are a magnificent being.

Find your life's meaning.

Meanwhile, it isn't a matter of what I want to believe. Evolution is real, Peaches.

I also believe in a creatrix, a divine parent, but that is a BELIEF. It is not a provable or even supportable theory. I don't know how the two thoughts connect up. I just think that they do. Does that bother me?
Not one bit.
Life is meant to have mysteries.

Answer 8

People believe what was scientifically proved impossible over 100 years ago because they do not want to take responsibility for their own actions.

Scientifically impossible? And over 100 years ago, before the theoty of evolution was formed? Yes.

Louis Pasteur, the French scientist, disproved the theory of "spontaneous generation," which is what evolution is based on, with his broth and meat expiriments.

A long time ago, people used to believe that broth was produced by dust. Weird, right? But it was considered as firm a fact as the sky is blue. So Pastuer, seeing how ridiculous this was, made 2 completely covered pots of broth. He put the broth into 2 completely clean flasks and corked one, airtight. He let them both sit out for a few days, and then tested the open one in his lab for dust. Guess what, it was there. Yet he took his instruments and the corked flask to the top of a mountain where the air was too thin to have dust and tested it. Guess what? No dust.

He also did a similar expiriment with three jars of raw meat. People believed that maggots came from rotten meat. So he put a few chunks of raw meat in each of the jars. He left one completely open, tied a piece of cloth around another, and securely tied a piece of animal skin around the last. Letting them sit out until they rotted, he examined them as time went on. He found maggot eggs and maggots all over the uncovered meat, of course. The jar with the cloth on it only had eggs and maggots on top of the cloth. And the tightly sealed meat had no maggots or eggs at all.

And we all know today that broth is water that meat or chicken is boiled in(or boullion), and maggots are baby flies.

However, geologic rock formations show signs of the great flood, and other events in the Bible have been proved true by artifacts and places found, and there is no true proof of evolution. And the things which are used as evidence of evolution are even screwed up. How do you explain the horse rib count thing? Where are these "missing links?" The animals used as examples didn't evolve, they simply died out.

I'm not preaching here, I'm just the kind of person who likes to know the truth. The sad thing is that public schools still teach evolution as if it were firm fact and not theory. It seems that the government here and elswhere is trying to feed us lies to make us believe what they want us to.

It makes you wonder though, what other lies have we been fed?

Answer 9

1. It has nothing to do with what we 'want to believe'. Why don't you want to believe in the tooth fairy?
2. You've never read a scientific article that used the phrase 'less evolved', at least not in relation to biological evolution.
3. Social Darwinism has nothing to do with whether or not the theory of evolution is true.

Answer 10

I don't believe in evolution. I know it is as much fact as anything can be in science because antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria have developed and can be observed evolving in laboratories.

This does not prevent me from having a belief in God; it simply means that I understand and am comfortable with genetic science.

Evolution does not preclude the possibility of an afterlife; all evolution says is that genetic changes happen, and when they are beneficial to a species, those beneficial traits are passed down to descendants, who are different from their ancestors in physical make-up.

Hitler may have said he was murdering the Jews because of social Darwinism, but he was in fact murdering them because he hated Jews, and social Darwinism was a convenient excuse--and not a very acceptable one.

Answer 11

I can't believe in evolution because it's not a belief.
It's a scientific fact.
We "know" scientific facts -scientific theories and scientific laws-, we don't "believe" in them.

With knowing that I am here after all those other possibilities, it makes me realize that life is very precious.
That's not depressing.
It makes me care more about me and other living beings, and it makes me realize how important freedom, peace and science are.

Hope it helps.

To some answerers: We didn't came from apes and
evolution doesn't claim that. Evolution and coming from apes have nothing in common.