Why Evolution And Religion Don't Mesh

Please don't take this to be a rant against evolution, it is not. What it is is an explanation for why I just can not believe that evolution can be reconciled with religion. I do not believe in creationism. When people try to merge evolution and creationism together, I just can't buy it. The two can not really mesh.

Sure, the story of creation does somewhat match evolution. We came out of the ocean as small life forms then grew to large lifeforms and eventually became human beings. Creation follows this mold.

BUT...

The key difference between evolution and creationism is that God creates everything every step of the way, and he does not need evolution to make life. Evolution is slow change over time, in most cases. Creation is bringing things out of thin air.

So I really can't see how the two can be reconciled.

Does that mean religion is correct? I don't believe so. Does it mean the two have to be hostile to each other? No it doesn't mean that either.

Evolution is no real threat to religion. The two can coexist. People just need to lighten up and realize that people have a right to their beliefs and they don't have any right to impose their beliefs onto anybody else.

reply to post by EvilSadamClone


I agree they coexist, but I feel they mesh just fine with religion, because not all religion refers to creationism. Creationism can't coexist because it is the antithesis of science, and evolution is a scientific theory.

Religion says a creator started all of this, science says what we see now developed over time from less complex organisms.

Who started it all? See, even if you complete the picture of fundamental physics, the big bang, all of that, you are still left with "why".

And that's where religion comes in.

So I think you are right, and also incorrect. Your thread title says religion, so you are wrong when you say they can't mesh. Your OP mentions creationism, which can't mesh, so you are correct.

reply to post by EvilSadamClone


See my current thread in the Origins & Creation forum: www.abovetopsecret.com...

I think this OP belongs in that forum as well.....

My belief is that "God" (if you want to call the designer that) has created things over time by using evolution.

reply to post by EvilSadamClone


Just like how Stephen Jay Gould stated in his proposition NOMA: science and religion should remain as two separate realms to view the world around us. An omnipotent and omniscient God is not restricted by the empirical scrutiny of scientific methodology. Of course we haven't explained why the universe was created or exactly how life formed from inorganic matter, but that doesn't necessarily mean we should impose a God factor.

And intelligent design is just thinly-veiled religious thinking.

reply to post by EvilSadamClone

Evolution is slow change over time, in most cases. Creation is bringing things out of thin air.

Creation is a "Creator" creating things.
Evolution is things coming into being on their own.

Hey, i know they don't mesh together, so i was just googling information on how religion looked at evolution. I was looking at Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. Hinduism being the non-abrahamic out of the three, i saw something about evolution in it.

Daśāvatāras and evolution of Vishnu.

Beginning:

Matsya. First avatar is a fish, one which is creature living in water. If we compare it with biological evolution on different Geological Time Scale first developed life was also in the form of fish which originated during Cambrian period.

Kurma Second avatar was in the form of Tortoise (reptiles). In geology also first reptiles comes as second important evolution which originated in Mississippian period just after Amphibians.

Varaha Third avatar was in the form of Boar. Evolution of the amphibian to the land animal.

Narasimha The Man-Lion (Nara= man, simha=lion) was the fourth avatar. But in geology no such evidences are mentioned. It may have been related with Ape Man The term may sometimes refer to extinct early human ancestors, such as the undiscovered missing link between apes and humans.

Vamana Fifth Avatar is the dwarf man. It may be related with the first man originated during Pliocene. It may be related with Neanderthals. Neanderthals were generally only 12 to 14 cm (4½–5½ in) shorter than modern humans, contrary to a common view of them as "very short" or "just over 5 feet".

Parashurama, The man with an axe was the sixth avatar. It has the similarities with the first modern man originated during the Quaternary period or the man of Iron Age.

Source

It seems Hinduism has views on both Evolution and Creation and admits the origin cycle is unknown.

Originally posted by smithjustinb
My belief is that "God" (if you want to call the designer that) has created things over time by using evolution.

our link in evolution can not be proven or presented...

the Bible says we were created in the creators image too, not that of a martian space alien.

God is most likely looking just like you (or George Burns)

www.imdb.com...

Originally posted by sk0rpi0n
reply to post by EvilSadamClone

 

Evolution is slow change over time, in most cases. Creation is bringing things out of thin air.

Creation is a "Creator" creating things.
Evolution is things coming into being on their own.

exactly! it would seem quite the opposite...

Originally posted by EvilSadamClone
Please don't take this to be a rant against evolution, it is not. What it is is an explanation for why I just can not believe that evolution can be reconciled with religion. I do not believe in creationism. When people try to merge evolution and creationism together, I just can't buy it. The two can not really mesh.

Sure, the story of creation does somewhat match evolution. We came out of the ocean as small life forms then grew to large lifeforms and eventually became human beings. Creation follows this mold.

BUT...

The key difference between evolution and creationism is that God creates everything every step of the way, and he does not need evolution to make life. Evolution is slow change over time, in most cases. Creation is bringing things out of thin air.

So I really can't see how the two can be reconciled.

Does that mean religion is correct? I don't believe so. Does it mean the two have to be hostile to each other? No it doesn't mean that either.

Evolution is no real threat to religion. The two can coexist. People just need to lighten up and realize that people have a right to their beliefs and they don't have any right to impose their beliefs onto anybody else.

Only depends on what religon you listen to. Hindusim and Buddism is all about evolution of the soul and they do not have to be 100% ego right like some other religons. And losing ego seem to be the common denomenator in all spiritual teachings. Knowledge and thruth is connected like everything else. It is just that human like to play around with duality and can sometimes not see thru it. Duality mean you are wrong and I am right or such ideas. Religon vs Science. Christianety vs Islam. (the old my view of god is right and yours are wrong). USA vs Islamic Fundamentalists (that are for me a question of plague vs cholera). Democrats vs Republicans (Where I think all poleticians are scum of the earth).

See I also playing around duality. It is so much fun.

Originally posted by IEtherianSoul9
reply to post by EvilSadamClone

 

Just like how Stephen Jay Gould stated in his proposition NOMA: science and religion should remain as two separate realms to view the world around us. An omnipotent and omniscient God is not restricted by the empirical scrutiny of scientific methodology. Of course we haven't explained why the universe was created or exactly how life formed from inorganic matter, but that doesn't necessarily mean we should impose a God factor.

And intelligent design is just thinly-veiled religious thinking.

edit on 4/19/2012 by IEtherianSoul9 because: (no reason given)

In the end when we figure out everything (that is the same thing as god for me, The All that is) there will ony be one knowledge. The thruth. But humanity will probably have been very wrong on the specifics. But who cares. Knowledge evolves one idea at a time. Continue to always question to evolve it as much as possible.

Originally posted by sk0rpi0n
reply to post by EvilSadamClone

 

Evolution is slow change over time, in most cases. Creation is bringing things out of thin air.

Creation is a "Creator" creating things.
Evolution is things coming into being on their own.

Who can say that evolution/change is not guided? Sometimes evolution/change is extreamly fast.

reply to post by luciddream

interesting link...

The Hindu religion is the only one of the world's great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which time scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long, longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang.[7]

Originally posted by SisyphusRide

Originally posted by smithjustinb
My belief is that "God" (if you want to call the designer that) has created things over time by using evolution.

our link in evolution can not be proven or presented...

the Bible says we were created in the creators image too, not that of a martian space alien.

God is most likely looking just like you (or George Burns)

www.imdb.com...

This is a misinterpretation of the phrase "created in God's image". Martian space aliens are also made in God's image, as are worms, as are cats, as are dogs, as are trees. God's image is light. Look at a palm tree. Look at you hand. Look at cat's whiskers. Look at a smile. Look in my eyes. Look in any eyes. God's image- light- in all living things.

Evolution is a fact. We choose the shape of our own forms over time and according to our needs and the needs of those around us and according to what we are as life. Survival adaptations. The ecosystem is meant to be in balance.

reply to post by smithjustinb

the fact is... evolution is just plain boring

that's something I can prove since Piltdown man didn't do much else for us.

Science is just beginning to catch up to the Holy Bible. Theres alot of advanced knowledge in there, secular people just do not know how to look for it because the langauge is older and theyre not "religious". At the same time most christians do not know the bible well enough themselves to even know what questions to ask or where science merges with the scriptures.

For instance you have Osama bin Laden's name popping up in code within 3500 year old scriptures, you also have the story of the twin towers being hit by planes and falling. God's hand right there, 3500 years ago there was no math. Pythagoras didn't invent math until around 300 B.C. and it took computers to be able to figure out these bible codes because the the complex equations imbedded within the letters of the hebrew alphabet. It took one elderly Rabbi and his computer to stumble onto this.



So who told Moses what to write down in the bible? Right, someone with more knowledge than he had by far.

Originally posted by sk0rpi0n
Creation is a "Creator" creating things.
Evolution is things coming into being on their own.

That would be Abiogenesis. Evolution is the change in allele frequency between successive generations; a.k.a change over time.

I would recommend learning the difference between the two.