RELIGIOUS BELIEF
I consider myself (and anyone else who accepts the following) to be a Christian if they can profess a belief in the following:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the on Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father
Light from light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of in being with the Father, through whom all things were made.
For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, and by the power of the Holy Spirit and Virgin Mary, became man.
For our sake, he crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered, died, and was buried.
He rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory, to judge the living and the dead, and of His kingdom there will be no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
Who has spoken through the prophets.
In believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I profess one baptism for the remission of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead;
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Note: This is not based on ANY observable evidence of worldly things, but concerns much of what is beyond man's understanding and deals with otherworldly events,
reflecting my personal spirtual beliefs about God and all that is unseen.
SCIENTIFIC BELIEF
I consider myself (and anyone else who accepts the following) to be a supporter of Evolution if they believe life on earth evolved due to the following observable evidence:
Evolution is the likely factor in the changing of life on earth due to the following key observations and inferences drawn from them:
1) Species have great fertility. They have more offspring than can grow to adulthood.
2) Populations remain roughly the same size, with small changes.
3) Food resources are limited, but are relatively stable over time.
4) An implicit struggle for survival ensues.
5) In sexually reproducing species, generally no two individuals are identical.
6) Some of these variations directly impact the ability of an individual to survive in a given environment.
7) Much of this variation is inheritable.
8) Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce, while individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and more likely to reproduce.
9) The individuals that survive are most likely to leave their inheritable traits to future generations.
10) This slowly effected process results in populations that adapt to the environment over time, and ultimately, after interminable generations, these variations accumulate to form new varieties, and ultimately, new species.
Notice is simply drawn from what we can observe, see, and measure on earth itself, and has nothing to do with anything written in my religious texts. Although evolution cannot be 100% proven, I think the above evidence argues strongly in favor of the evolutionary theory being the correct basis to explain the origin of species on earth.
Since I use the bible as a guide to faith and morals and do not interpret the text literally as a science textbook (i.e. believing that when it says “you are the salt of the earth”, it means God is telling the read this person is physically made from salt, or when it says Adam died at age 943, it means he lived to be exactly nine hundred and forty-three years by today's calender), I have no problem accepting both of the above beliefs, and feel they deal entirely with different matters. I feel no conflict in being both a Christian and a supporter of evolutionary science.
Both science and religion are systems of rational thought grounded in unproveable, properly basic beliefs.