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You did not respond in any way to my question of what might be a non-religious alternative to evolution. What mechanism other than variation and selection do you propose?

I'm sorry, I thought you had misunderstood my original statement that I had become skeptical about evolution for non-religious reasons.

I'm using the word "religious" to mean behavior specifically taken to please or appease a supernatural being. I am not using it to mean having a belief in a supernatural being nor I'm I using it to mean "faith" i.e. having a belief in something that one cannot empirically test.

Now, I believe in God. If I come to conclude that Man along with all animals and plants are descended from a common ancestor, it will be with the understanding that it was God -- our Creator -- who set everything in motion. So I would be a "creationist" whether I come to accept macro-evolution or contiune to doubt it. On the other hand, my belief or disbelief in evolution is not dependent on having a happy afterlife.

If you are using the word "religious" to mean "faith," however, then there is no "non religious" answer as to how Man came into existence. Even if you believe in the most extreme form of evolution -- that an accident of the cosmos cause matter to go swirling into the void, which through happenstance formed a mix of chemicals, which through happenstance formed simple biological entities, which in response to their environment formed complex biological entities and ultimately man -- you are makng a declaration of faith and hence have a religious explanation for our existence.