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."

[Dimensio]

www.drdino.com

Including this website in your list of vague references does not give your claims further credibility. Kent Hovind is a known liar who has repeatedly misrepresented the theory of evolution and demontstrated either that he is wholly ignorant of the theory, meaning that nothing that he says on the subject can be trusted as reliable, or he is lying, meaning that nothing that he says on the subject can be trusted as reliable.

[Dimensio]

- And you DIDN'T DISPROVE ONE WORD I'VE POSTED, NOR IN ANY OF THE SCIENTIFIC LINKS I INCLUDED. You get an "F"!

You have made a claim regarding alleged inaccurate dates produced by carbon dating. Numerous individuals have explained to you that the anecdotes that you have related are impossible. You appear to be ignoring you demonstratable factual errors, however that you deny your past mistakes does not negate the evidence against you.

[balrog666]

Kent Hovind is a known liar who has repeatedly misrepresented the theory of evolution and demontstrated either that he is wholly ignorant of the theory, meaning that nothing that he says on the subject can be trusted as reliable, or he is lying, meaning that nothing that he says on the subject can be trusted as reliable.

The odious Kent Hovind and his wife, and possibly his son, are all going to jail for about 400 years each. I am considering attending the trial and phoning it in live to FR just for they sheer joy of watching such a vile conman/huckster go down.

[DoctorMichael]

".....To let folks know that you can be a legit CREATIONIST and still be a conservative at the same time......."

So you were contacted by little men in spaceships too? On the 13th of December 1973, French journalist Rael was contacted by a visitor from another planet, and asked to establish an Embassy to welcome these people back to Earth. Go here!!!!!!!!!!!!!...............

http://www.rael.org/rael_content/rael_summary.php

The Designers have been here!

I read it on the Internet therefore it must be true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Bible says so too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..........

Lets all get together and get this into our Godless Public School System as a viable alternative to what the Godless Evilutionists profess!!!!!!!!

Who's with me?

		LANGUAGE NATIONAL WEBSITES
Wednesday, 29 March 2006 14:54 Videos The Message Downloads
HUMAN SCIENTISTS FROM ANOTHER PLANET CREATED ALL LIFE ON EARTH USING DNA. Traces of this epic masterpiece of creation can be found in all religious writings and traditions. It is to them that Moses, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed referred. It is now time to welcome them. WHAT HAPPENED? On the 13th of December 1973, French journalist Rael was contacted by a visitor from another planet, and asked to establish an Embassy to welcome these people back to Earth. The extra-terrestrial human being was a little over four feet tall, had long dark hair, almond shaped eyes, olive skin, and exuded harmony and humor. Rael recently described him by saying quite simply, "If he were to walk down a street in Japan, he would not even be noticed." In other words, they look like us, and we look like them. In fact, we were created "in their image" as explained in the Bible. He told Rael that: "We were the ones who designed all life on earth" "You mistook us for gods" "We were at the origin of your main religions" "Now that you are mature enough to understand this,we would like to enter official contact through an embassy" THE MESSAGES The messages dictated to Rael explain that life on Earth is not the result of random evolution, nor the work of a supernatural 'God'. It is a deliberate creation, using DNA, by a scientifically advanced people who made human beings literally "in their image" -- what one can call "scientific creationism." References to these scientists and their work, as well as to their symbol of infinity, can be found in the ancient texts of many cultures. For example, in Genesis, the Biblical account of Creation, the word "Elohim" has been mistranslated as the singular word "God", but it is actually a plural word which means "those who came from the sky", and the singular is "Eloha" (also known as "Allah"). Indigenous cultures all over the world remember these "gods" who came from the sky, including natives of Africa (Dogon, Twa, etc.), America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Leaving our humanity to progress by itself, the Elohim nevertheless maintained contact with us via prophets including Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, etc., all specially chosen and educated by them. The role of the prophets was to progressively educate humanity through the Messages they taught, each adapted to the culture and level of understanding at the time. They were also to leave traces of the Elohim so that we would be able to recognize them as our Creators and fellow human beings when we had advanced enough scientifically to understand them. Jesus, whose father was an Eloha, was given the task of spreading these messages throughout the world in preparation for this crucial time in which we are now privileged to live: the predicted Age Of Revelation. And most important of all, read the book, "Intelligent Design - Message from the Designers" the book which will revolutionize your thinking, transform your life and which is already changing the world. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE E-BOOK!	Free Downloads Click on an image to download the free e-book! (requires Acrobat Reader 5 or higher) Click on an image to download the free e-book! (requires Acrobat Reader 5 or higher) Click on an image to download the free e-book! (requires Acrobat Reader 5 or higher) Click on an image to download the free e-book! (requires Acrobat Reader 5 or higher) Click on an image to download the free e-book! (requires Acrobat Reader 5 or higher)	Main Menu Home Events FAQ Testimonials   Africa   Americas   Asia   Europe   Oceania   Middle East Contact Us Shop Links Welcome Username: Password: [ Signup ] [ Forgot password? ] [  ] Live Chat Support OFFLINE

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[RunningWolf]

The flaws in carbon dating. A hard fast constant method? uhm no. Might the flaws in the results expose the weakness in the underlying theory?? uhm yes.

"It may come as a shock to some, but fewer than 50 percent of the radiocarbon dates from geological and archaeological samples in northeastern North America have been adopted as `acceptable' by investigators."—*J. Ogden III, "The Use and Abuse of Radiocarbon," in Annals of the New York Academy of Science, Vol. 288, 1977, pp. 167-173.
snip
"C-14 dating was being discussed at a symposium on the prehistory of the Nile Valley. A famous American colleague, Professor Brew, briefly summarized a common attitude among archaeologists towards it, as follows: If a C-14 date supports our theories, we put it in the main text. If it does not entirely contradict them, we put it in a footnote. And if it is completely out of date we just drop it.

[RunningWolf]

Yes I read them, but here is the guy that said it, not me.

J. Ogden III, "The Use and Abuse of Radiocarbon," in Annals of the New York Academy of Science, Vol. 288, 1977,

[King Prout]

thank you. though I prefer oratio directa, I can -when coerced- pare to the bone just as incisively in oratio obliqua

[Doctor Stochastic]

Then the obvious conclusion is that most evolutionists have never studied science, because the vast majority certainly act in this way.

Numbers on the table, please.

[presently no screen name]

Propaganda indeed. It shows the NEED to sell their philosophy. Just like the libs and their taking points - they are good and have the answers and the conservatives are bad. SAME MINDSET!! It's no wonder the evo's flock to FR, there is no one to argue with at DU.

1. Evolution fits well
2. Creationism is bad
3. Evolution explains
4. Evolution explains
5. Evolution accounts
6. Evolution explains

[King Prout]

Numbers on the table, please.

pfft! dream on, hippie!

since you are making impossible demands of the djinni of hot airs, can you do me a solid? I'd like a nice brand-new 7.62mm gatling gun, the one with heatsinks and extra-thick chrome barrel-linings.

Hook a brother up!

caint hurt t'ask!

[Doctor Stochastic]

People continually make numerical or statistical claims without giving a reference to the data. I assume that their numbers are incorrect and thus ought to be ignored. Generally, 98.6° of all statistics are made up on the spot.

[Jaguarbhzrd]

Statistical placemarker

[King Prout]

[snip]
1. Evolution fits well
2. Creationism is bad
3. Evolution explains
4. Evolution explains
5. Evolution accounts
6. Evolution explains
[snip]

exactly.
not propaganda.
fact.

similarly:
1. Particle physics fits well
2. Creationism is bad
3. Particle physics explains
4. Particle physics explains
5. Particle physics accounts
6. Particle physics explains

and:
1. Gravitation fits well
2. Creationism is bad
3. Gravitation explains
4. Gravitation explains
5. Gravitation accounts
6. Gravitation explains

and:
1. Plate Tectonics fits well
2. Creationism is bad
3. Plate Tectonics explains
4. Plate Tectonics explains
5. Plate Tectonics accounts
6. Plate Tectonics explains

and so on and so forth

the agenda?
it could be represented as promoting the rational approach to reality, fostering understanding of the mechanistic nature of the universe, leading to fuller and more broadly applied grasp of causality and results, leading to pragmatic conservatism, leading to political conservatism.

beats hell out of always looking for a bail-out from Big Daddy and perpetually ignoring cause and effect.

there really is little difference between theocrats and leftists. both are raging statists - they just dress different, have different names for their oligarchic masters, and use slightly different scare tactics.

empirical science is by far the better route: more humanistic, more amenable to freedom and personal responsibility, and far more naturally conservative.

[King Prout]

human arrogance, ignorance, and stupidity percolate at a constant temperature.

[Coyoteman]

empirical science is by far the better route: more humanistic, more amenable to freedom and personal responsibility, and far more naturally conservative.

And either verifiable or correctable!

[King Prout]

thank you. I was remiss in failing to point that out.

[Religion Moderator]

Discuss the issues all you want, but do NOT make it personal!

[RadioAstronomer]

Flapdoodle!

When someone is a blatant liar they should be called on it no matter what forum they are posting in.