Evolution is a scientific hypothesis. It should be evaluated as such. In my estimation, its status is one of circumstantial evidence and belief. It can neither be demonstrated in the laboratory, nor observed in field studies. There is a great deal of circumstantial support as befits the considerable resources devoted to proving and indoctrinating it. It may or may not be true.
Christians can take or leave evolution. They don’t care. God could have created life and evolutionary principles, or he could have created every species as a separate creation. Christians can afford to be objective on the topic of evolution.
Atheists need to believe in evolution. Otherwise, they will doubt their atheism. They are not objective on the topic of evolution.
Positivists claim that all knowledge comes from the five senses. Anything that we think we believe, that does not originate from the five senses, should be rejected. Sensory data is central, and all that there is.
Idealists, some at least, believe that our ideas are central, and all that there is.
I think my mind is central and is the quarterback, or headquarters, for receiving and processing sensory data. I said mind, instead of brain. I know my mind from the inside out. We all do. A brain can be examined on the laboratory bench. The person doing examination uses his mind and his senses.
I believe in many invisible things that cannot be apprehended by the senses: my mind, self-consciousness, free will, truth, reason, logic, mathematical relations, beauty, right and wrong, the effect music has upon me, etc. I believe that I exist, independent of what others can see of me on an examination table. I believe others exist too. Believing in all these invisible entities, it is not hard to believe in God.
At least some atheist positivists would like to define God away. They believe that if you can’t examine it in the laboratory, observe it easily in nature, and it’s not evolution, then it does not exist. They would like to claim the mantle of science. Historically, science did not originate in a world of positive atheism. Science originated in the Christian world. I don’t see how science could have originated without a belief in many invisible entities such as truth (singular as in God’s truth), reason, logic, mathematics, etc. Modern atheistic Marxist thinking has birthed a lot of junk science. This includes the idea of multiple truths. Marx came up with bourgeois logic and a separate proletarian logic.
I understand the argument that sensory data is all there is. I understand the argument that our thoughts are all that there is. I reject both views as being overly austere. As I stated before, I believe in many invisible things. I was given a mind, or soul. That is me. I was also given sensory apparatus. I don’t believe that I see because I can examine eyes in the laboratory. I believe I see, because I see. I don’t think that I think because I can examine brains on a table. I think I think, because these are my thoughts.
I’ll be on vacation the next four days and unable to contribute further.
Have fun!