Christanity and evolution mutually eclusive?

Question

I was raised outside of the Christian faith, so please bear with my ignorance...

Can Christians believe in evolution? I would think that a non literal translation of the bible would allow you to believe that God designed and guided evolution. However from the answers I have been reading on Y!A it seems that this is not an acceptable belief.

Does this very with which branch (i.e. catholic, protestant, quaker,) or is it a universal to truth to all Christian faiths?

Thank you for your answers and please try to be polite.

Answer 1

Science is defined as natural explanations for occurences. Christianity only has supernatural explanations. Yes they are mutually exclusive if people are honest with themselves.

Answer 2

Of course Christians can accept evolution. There are plenty who already do. There are plenty of great biologists, like Ken Miller, who happen to be Christian too. Hell, my biology teacher in high school was a Xavierian Brother.

The ONLY part of the Bible it truly contradicts is the book of Genesis, and that's ONLY if you treat it literally. Though some Christians would even argue that to treat the story literally is to miss the point.

Science is designed to give objective answers about the physical world. Religion offers answers that come from people's subjective experiences and own personal searches. A scientist who is mindful when it comes to the scientific method and his own work, could very well have personal reasons for also having religion in his life.

>>However from the answers I have been reading on
>>Y!A it seems that this is not an acceptable belief.

That's because the Christians who do accept evolution tend to have better things to do than proselytize on an internet forum like this. Trust me, this place doesn't attract the brightest folks.

Answer 3

I am Catholic and I know plenty of Catholics who believe in creation and evolution. Making them mutually exclusive actual acts as a limit on the belief that God is all-powerful. Some people believe that "in God's image" means in the physical human form so it has to have remained the same from the moment it was created. But on the other hand, evolution does not explain where everything came from in the beginning, just how it is at this point in time and how it came to be that way.

Evolution is not a belief, it is science. It is useless to try and fight science, it is better to see how God fills in the gaps in science. There are things in science that broke down theories in the past, but as far as the presence of God and the beginning of things, science has no way of explaining that. Science says matter can not be created or destroyed. It is a scientific law, so explain how matter was created for the big bang to occur. They are not mutually exclusive, it is just scary for people to not be able to say they know the all the answers. Accepting evolution says that the bible does not explain everything. The truth is, it doesn't.

Answer 4

The Pope thinks so, and that presumably is about as Christian as you can get. The problem that people have with evolution is that it does conflict with the literal words of the bible, so can be adhered to only if you take the bible metaphorically. But you must do this anyway: we know from science that the tales of the earth's creation, Adam and Eve, the great flood, and many other tales are not literally true -- and, of course, evolution is now proven fact.

Answer 5

Catholic here and I believe in evolution. Ridiculous not to believe in microevolution since it has been PROVEN in studies. Macroevolution is the big debate and probably will not be proven in a single lifetime since it takes such a long time for changes to be made on that scale. Also, I have read parts of the beak of the finch and how that book supposedly proves macroevolution but I am still on the fence with the beak of the finch. Evolution does not disprove God. I just don't see it that way.

Answer 6

No they aren't. Many scientists happen to be Christians, including evolutionary biologists. There are catholic priests who specialize in evolution, for crying out loud.

Many Christians all over the world believe in evolution. The whole idea of Young Earth Creationists is actually a phenomenon unique to the U.S., which sucks cos it makes us look like a bunch of backwards morons.

Answer 7

I prefer a non-literal interpretation of the Bible, and I do believe that Christianity and Evolution can coexist.

Just a note you may wish to read the debate between Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins. You can find it in an issues of Time, or you can just search for it on google. It's very enlightening.

Answer 8

There are those within the Christian church whom believe that God indeed created the universe and earth, then evolution took place. This of course doe away the Adam and Eve Garden of Eden story told in Genesis.

Others like myself believe in an old earth and that Adam and Eve were indeed mankind's first parents. But within this scenario there is room for the evolution of thought; technology all kinds of things. And so I say they are compatible.

Answer 9

If you believe in evolution, then you must agree that the story of Adam and Eve is fictional.

If so, then there was no original sin, man is not doomed to hell for not repenting, and there is no need for a sacrificial lamb (Jesus) to wash away our sins.

That pretty much wipes out the entire Christian religion in one chapter.

So yes, they are mutually exclusive. And that is why the Christian church is fighting so hard to deny that evolution is a very real, and very proven, scientific fact.

(There are some Christians out there that believe in evolution. They just haven't thought out the full ramifications of doing so. That's why I point this out)

Answer 10

Christians can believe in a form of evolution.

I personally think it's largely inconsequential - but I'm open to the idea that evolution is how various species originated, with God being the author. But I also believe that life is far too complex to have happened by accident in the allotted timeframe given.

Answer 11

Myself being a Catholic and having researched this question within the Church it is accepted that evolution does exist. There is irrefutable proof of certain species making adaptive changes to fit into their environment. NEVER have they changed species though!!! A frog has ALWAYS been a frog, Monkeys always monkeys, and MAN has ALWAYS been Man!!! God created all the species of the Earth, and then He made Man in His own Image. Their has been NO inter species evolution, not "then", not now, not ever.