Darwin on the Right: Why Christians and conservatives should accept evolution

Scientific American ^ | October 2006 issue | Michael Shermer

[PatrickHenry]

According to a 2005 Pew Research Center poll, 70 percent of evangelical Christians believe that living beings have always existed in their present form, compared with 32 percent of Protestants and 31 percent of Catholics. Politically, 60 percent of Republicans are creationists, whereas only 11 percent accept evolution, compared with 29 percent of Democrats who are creationists and 44 percent who accept evolution. A 2005 Harris Poll found that 63 percent of liberals but only 37 percent of conservatives believe that humans and apes have a common ancestry. What these figures confirm for us is that there are religious and political reasons for rejecting evolution. Can one be a conservative Christian and a Darwinian? Yes. Here's how.

1. Evolution fits well with good theology. Christians believe in an omniscient and omnipotent God. What difference does it make when God created the universe--10,000 years ago or 10,000,000,000 years ago? The glory of the creation commands reverence regardless of how many zeroes in the date. And what difference does it make how God created life--spoken word or natural forces? The grandeur of life's complexity elicits awe regardless of what creative processes were employed. Christians (indeed, all faiths) should embrace modern science for what it has done to reveal the magnificence of the divine in a depth and detail unmatched by ancient texts.

2. Creationism is bad theology. The watchmaker God of intelligent-design creationism is delimited to being a garage tinkerer piecing together life out of available parts. This God is just a genetic engineer slightly more advanced than we are. An omniscient and omnipotent God must be above such humanlike constraints. As Protestant theologian Langdon Gilkey wrote, "The Christian idea, far from merely representing a primitive anthropomorphic projection of human art upon the cosmos, systematically repudiates all direct analogy from human art." Calling God a watchmaker is belittling.

3. Evolution explains original sin and the Christian model of human nature. As a social primate, we evolved within-group amity and between-group enmity. By nature, then, we are cooperative and competitive, altruistic and selfish, greedy and generous, peaceful and bellicose; in short, good and evil. Moral codes and a society based on the rule of law are necessary to accentuate the positive and attenuate the negative sides of our evolved nature.

4. Evolution explains family values. The following characteristics are the foundation of families and societies and are shared by humans and other social mammals: attachment and bonding, cooperation and reciprocity, sympathy and empathy, conflict resolution, community concern and reputation anxiety, and response to group social norms. As a social primate species, we evolved morality to enhance the survival of both family and community. Subsequently, religions designed moral codes based on our evolved moral natures.

5. Evolution accounts for specific Christian moral precepts. Much of Christian morality has to do with human relationships, most notably truth telling and marital fidelity, because the violation of these principles causes a severe breakdown in trust, which is the foundation of family and community. Evolution describes how we developed into pair-bonded primates and how adultery violates trust. Likewise, truth telling is vital for trust in our society, so lying is a sin.

6. Evolution explains conservative free-market economics. Charles Darwin's "natural selection" is precisely parallel to Adam Smith's "invisible hand." Darwin showed how complex design and ecological balance were unintended consequences of competition among individual organisms. Smith showed how national wealth and social harmony were unintended consequences of competition among individual people. Nature's economy mirrors society's economy. Both are designed from the bottom up, not the top down.

Because the theory of evolution provides a scientific foundation for the core values shared by most Christians and conservatives, it should be embraced. The senseless conflict between science and religion must end now, or else, as the Book of Proverbs (11:29) warned: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."

[The Blitherer]

I wonder if your studies have encompassed visiting any university libraries. Visit one, and you will find literally tens of thousands of volumes and articles of data, experiments etc concerning evolution across numerous scientific disciplines.

I have. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, scientific journals and textbooks do not allow arguments for Creationism to be published, so the debate is rather one-sided. Have you researched the data, experiments and non-mainstream articles concerning Creationism?

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

How do you know that God is responsible for the evidence?

Because you're saying He created it--unless you're attributing the glory of Creation to Satan, in which case I can only say "DON'T YOU BLASPHEME IN HERE! DON'T YOU BLASPHEME!" (with apologies to Aretha Franklin)

[The Blitherer]

The only ones saying that "God is a liar" are those who suggest that the fossil record was faked by God to make the Earth appear to be billions of years older than it actually is....

Unfortunately, with proper research, you might find that the fossil record is not quite as conclusive as you might think.

[highball]

Unfortunately, with proper research, you might find that the fossil record is not quite as conclusive as you might think.

Could you be more specific, please?

[Brilliant]

The question is not whether God made man in his own image. The question is HOW he made him. The Bible doesn't explain, except to say that he made him from "dust." That could apply to both versions of the story.

[Dimensio]

Unfortunately, as I said earlier, scientific journals and textbooks do not allow arguments for Creationism to be published, so the debate is rather one-sided.

What scientific arguments exist for "Creationism" exist, and what do you mean by "Creationism"?

[Gordongekko909]

Funny stuff.

Interpreting evolution as "dog-eat-dog" or "cutthroat" is something that could only come from a left-leaning brain. There is nothing moral or immoral about one specie thriving and another going extinct. All extinction means is that one particular specie couldn't hack it. One specie thriving just means that it's capable of doing well. Each individual organism on the face of the planet is going to die some day; evolution just explains why there are more of one organism hanging around at any given time than another.

Same goes for a firm going out of business in a capitalist economy: all it means is that the firm was not serving its consumers well enough and at a low enough price, or that someone else was doing it better. To describe this process as "cutthroat" requires a sentimental attachment to an institution that is ultimately counterproductive.

These people would have the government subsidize the buggy whip industry. Never mind that people don't want or need buggy whips anymore, letting the industry die would just be cruel. Purely emotive garbage like this strangles economies. The sooner that people figure out that nature has no conscience, kindness, or ill will, the better.

[Elsie]

Oh boy!

SA!!!

I took this magazine for DECADES before they swung to the left about 10 years ago....


Does that 'editor' still publish his smirking little picture in each issue?

[Sloth]

Speaking as a Christian who leans toward theistic evolution, I have to say these are TERRIBLE reasons.

1. Evolution fits well with good theology. Christians believe in an omniscient and omnipotent God. What difference does it make when God created the universe--10,000 years ago or 10,000,000,000 years ago?

This is NOT a reason to accept evolution. It is merely a (valid) point that evolution is not outside of the scope of God's power.

2. Creationism is bad theology.

This is the worst, most incoherent argument in the list. God's choice of how to create in no way diminishes His power to do it a multitude of other ways. It also mis-identifies intelligent design, as almost all anti-ID (and a lot of pro-ID) propaganda does.

3. Evolution explains original sin and the Christian model of human nature.

4. Evolution explains family values.

5. Evolution accounts for specific Christian moral precepts.

All 3 of these are essentially the same argument. "Explaining" a moral or spiritual principle in terms of natural selection & instincts is not going to get Christians on the side of evolution. If God is involved, He doesn't need Darwin's help in formulating a moral code. If He's not involved, then any such biologically derived "morals" have no more objective legitimacy than a mosquito's "moral" compulsion to bite humans.

6. Evolution explains conservative free-market economics. Charles Darwin's "natural selection" is precisely parallel to Adam Smith's "invisible hand."

Ridiculous. If biological systems were instead structured such that less fit organisms were disproportionately benefited by those who are better adapted, meaning that all genetic lines were equally preserved instead of the fit ones, would that somehow create a moral argument for socialism?

If conservative Christians should accept evolution as true, it is for exactly one reason: because it IS true. If evolution is a fact, then it should be accepted for THAT reason, not because it gives us warm fuzzy feelings about God and/or morality and/or the Laffer curve. This is a terribly condescending article.

[Elsie]

You guys bitch when religious types emote about 'science' - can we complain when 'science' tells religion what to believe?

[srweaver]

You wrote:

"Take modern genome sequencing. Practically every way that the genome data *could* have come out would have falsified common-descent. Case closed. Done and dusted."

Are you saying that science has proved that God did not create man in His image, or if He did science has proved that He used evolution to do so and that it took circa 3.5 billion years?

Not having falsified common descent doesn't mean you have falsified common creation, does it?

And yes, there is disagreement (NOT "absolutely unambiguous statements") over whether there is a LUCA or not among those "in the know" AKA those who make educated guesses.

Last universal ancestor (LUA), is the hypothetical latest living organism from which all currently living organisms descend. As such, it is the most recent common ancestor of the set of all currently living organisms. Also LCA (last common ancestor) or LUCA (last universal common ancestor). It is estimated to have lived some 3.5 billion years ago.

[Brilliant]

If Christians find it more to their liking to believe in Creationism, that's fine with me. If other Christians are able to believe in evolution, that is also fine with me. As I said, I don't think there is necessarily a conflict, except in our own minds. I just don't see why it is necessary to fight a war over something that is not essential to salvation anyway.

My pastor says that the world is only 5,000 years old. I have trouble believing that, and I don't see in the Bible where it says that. Of course, his claim is based on the genealogies, but the genealogies themselves have some ambiguities in them. I don't know why a clergyman would make evolution the litmus test for whether you're a Christian, when that is not what the Bible says. Like I said previously, the Midieval Church was convinced that Copernicus was wrong & that his lie would lead to the destruction of the Church. Here we are 500 years later, the Church is still here, and it's more accurate to say that the demonization of Copernicus is still being cited by the anti-Christians as "proof" that the Church is warped.

It's better to simply accept the idea that science and Chrisitianity have two theories for the creation of man, etc., which are not necessarily inconsistent, but even if they are inconsistent, there is no way either side can prove the other wrong. It's a matter of faith that will determine whether you believe, and that's OK with me because that is what the Bible says the key is anyway. If there were any other way to resolve this debate, then the Bible would be wrong.

[Sloth]

Addendum:

What difference does it make when God created the universe--10,000 years ago or 10,000,000,000 years ago? The glory of the creation commands reverence regardless of how many zeroes in the date. And what difference does it make how God created life--spoken word or natural forces?

This guy repeatedly makes it clear that he is talking about evolution, yet here he is going off into cosmology & the origin of life, NEITHER of which falls under the term 'evolution.' You would not let a Creationist get away with that sort of switch.

[stands2reason]

Do you believe "God's image" is physical?

[Elsie]

 

 Darwin on the Right: Why Christians and conservatives should accept evolution

 

---

Yeah... sure....

---

 

 

Most Christians 'believe' Evolution because they do NOT know what their Bible says. 

If, as they say, they 'believe' the words of Jesus and the New Testament writers,

they have to decide what the following verses mean:

 

Acts 17:26-27

 26.  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
 27.  God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

 

 

Romans 5:12-21
 12.  Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--
 13.  for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
 14.  Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
 15.  But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
 16.  Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
 17.  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
 18.  Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
 19.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
 20.  The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
 21.  so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

 

 

If there were  no one man, that means SIN did NOT enter the World thru him.

 

If Adam was NOT the one man, that means SPIRITUAL DEATH did not come thru him.

 

If SIN did NOT enter the World thru the one man, that means Jesus does not save from SIN.

 

 

Are we to believe that the one man is symbolic?  Does that mean Jesus is symbolic as well?

 

 

The Theory of Evolution states that there WAS no one man, but a wide population that managed to inherit that last mutated gene that makes MEN different from APES.

 

 

 Acts 17:24-26

 24.  "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
 25.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
 26.  From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

Was LUKE wrong about this?

---

 

 

1 Corinthians 11:8-9
 8.  For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;
 9.  neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

 

1 Timothy 2:13

  For Adam was formed first, then Eve.  

 

---

 

 

Was Paul WRONG about these???

 

---

 

If so, is GOD so puny that He allows this 'inaccuracy' in His Word??

 

NIV Genesis 2:18
   The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

---

---

 

 

SA left out reason 0:

"We're tired of their yammering and nipping at our heels. "

[Elsie]

 

The question is HOW he made him. The Bible doesn't explain, except to say that he made him from "dust." That could apply to both versions of the story.

 

 

Possibly; but the CHRISTIAN veiw of this 'creator' is quite different than the one Evolution allows one to believe in.

 

 

---

---

 

Isa 48:3 ... I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I shewed them; I did [them] SUDDENLY, and they came to pass.

 

---

Indeed!!

---

Genesis 1

 

 1.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
 2.  Now the earth was  formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
 3.  And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

 

 

This is a GOD who creates by speaking; but; how LONG did it take?

 

Now Jesus was a man who had God-like powers.  Was HE God?   The Book says so.......

 

 

 

 

NIV Colossians 1:13-17
 13.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
 14.  in whom we have redemption,  the forgiveness of sins. 
 15.  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
 16.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
 17.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

 

 

NIV Revelation 4:11
   "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

 

 

NIV Revelation 10:6
   And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay!

---

---

 

Notice that when this man speaks, things happen RIGHT NOW!   Not after some times passes and the body heals itself.

 

 

 

NIV Matthew 8:2-3

 2.  A man with leprosy  came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
 3.  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured  of his leprosy.

 

 

NIV Matthew 21:19
   Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.

 

 

NIV Mark 1:41-42
 41.  Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"
 42.  Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

 

 

NIV Mark 5:41-42

 41.  He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!").
 42.  Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.

 

 

NIV Mark 10:51-52

 51.  "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.   The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."
 52.  "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

 

 

NIV Luke 5:13

  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And Immediately the leprosy left him.

 

 

NIV Luke 5:24-25

 24.  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . ." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."
 25.  Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.

 

 

NIV Luke 8:44

  She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and Immediately her bleeding stopped.

 

 

NIV Luke 13:12-13

 12.  When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."
 13.  Then he put his hands on her, and Immediately she straightened up and praised God.

 

 

NIV Luke 18:42-43

 42.  Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."
 43.  Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

 

 

NIV Acts 9:33-35

 33.  There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years.
 34.  "Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat." Immediately Aeneas got up.
 35.  All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.

 

 

NIV Matthew 8:13
 13.  Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

 

 

NIV Matthew 15:28
 28.  Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

---

---

 

Now if this same personage, who does things in an instant;  how LONG would it take Him to CREATE all that we find around us???

[srweaver]

"Unfortunately, with proper research, you might find that the fossil record is not quite as conclusive as you might think."

Including the work by Stephen Jay Gould that led to his "punctuated equilibrium theory". Since there were not "enough" transitional form fossils these changes must have happened so fast there was no time to leave a fossil record.

In my opinion, a laughable theory to any thinking human being.

I am also reading "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History" which happens to be a mocking attack on Christianity.

[The Blitherer]

http://www.allaboutthejourney.org/fossil-record.htm

www.icr.org

[Gumlegs]

All extinction means is that one particular specie couldn't hack it.

Evolution via Gresham's Law?

[The Blitherer]

Nope, its spiritual. It refers to our souls.