Is evolution a religion?
971457
Evolution is not a religion. Answer this, Is science a religion?\nAre you mocking or idolizing Christ (lamb) with your avatar?You do know Christians call Jesus a lamb, right?
123134
Of course it's possible. Evolution is merely the mechanism of God's creation.\n\nPersonally, I feel the inherent contradiction is in the opposite direction. Rejection of evolutionary theory reduces God to a deceiver, to a 'God of parts' filling in the gaps in our understanding of creation, rather than underpinning it in it's entirety, it also rejects one of the greatest of God's gifts, the faculty of pure reason.\n\nPeople are, of course, welcome to their opinion, but I feel that the belief that God would create the universe in seven days, ten thousand years ago and then fix it in such a manner as to give all the impressions to the contrary is close to blasphemy
857320
Evolution is just a theory. Now scientists have come up with another theory of Intelignet being because they are unable to answer many questions with the help of Evolution alone.\nWho is this inteligent being ? This is surely God.\n\nThe earth as it is today has evolved over billions of years (as claimed by the theory of evolution) itself is just like saying that\nyou can build a 747 Boeing aircraft by placing all the componets in a building and all the parts get entangled due to a storm and viola a plane is born.
257820
Evolution is almost a proven fact.  In fact it's one of the basic concept of biological science. In fact humans have been tinkering with evolution for thousands of years.  Why do you think we have so many breeds of dogs? If you take selective breeding far enough you could "create" a totally new species. Germs and viruses are constantly evolving. Do you think the AIDS virus was spontaneously created by God?? It evolved from closely related chimpanzee virus that we can no longer be infected with. But the AIDS virus evolved from this virus that we can no longer be infected with. \n\nEvolution is obvious when you look at rapidly reproducing living things such as germs and viruses.  It is not as obvious for a longer living things as process is so slow that it takes millions of years. But fossil evidence is overwhelming that evolution is how we came to be human beings. \n\nWe did not evolve from apes!  Apes are our distant cousins that branched off millions of years ago. We are related to chimps and gorillas, but think of it as very very distant cousins. I don't know the exact percentage, but humans and chimps share over 99% of the genes. It's that one percent that makes us human.  \n\nI don't belive in god, but existance in a supernatural beings does not mean evolution is wrong. I don't think belief in god and evolution has to be mutually exclusive. If god created life, then he/she/it also must have created evolution to go with it.
1183298
no, humans aren't evolved from anything.  they were created by God.
229992
Yes.  It is typically taught as fact.  In reality evolution should not even be classified as a theory, as it has never gotten out of the hypothesis stage.
15929
Nope - it's all a 'personal' belief system. I quoted personal since many religions are an organized form of mind-control setup to benefit those in power at the 'head' of the religion or those leading the nation where the religion is being established. \n\nWhen everyone thinks alike they are much easier to control and influence into doing the things you want them to do. And the participants feel more at ease when all those around them feel and think the same way - it helps take the edge and unease away.\n\nJust look at how feverently organized religion trys to get it's followers to convert others.\n\nUpdate: Just had to address some points Raymond made below, specifically this part: \n"The one-celled animals reproduce by splitting, not sex. How could male and female be evolved into multicelled animals before they die from splitting? Did one Ameoba tell another, "Hey, why don't you become a female and I will be a male and we will have sex and produce baby ameobas."?\nAlso, how did evolution evolve pleasure during sex?"\n\nSex back in the day of one celled animals was not what you think it is, a male and a female interacting with some 'body' part that exchanges fluids. It's much more likely the first version of sex was the accidental exchange of RNA amongst an isolated community. That then gives that community genetic diversity and therefore gives them an advantage to survive environment change. If something then happens to wipe out all the other clones (based on their identical weakness to change) that reproduced by splitting, boom, sex has evolved as the dominant way to reproduce.\n\nAnd why do you think there is pleasure during sex? Just to make it feel good say you can say "Thanks God, that was awesome!"? Get real - ALL life on this planet has one universal drive - to reproduce and propogate the species. What would be the best way to ensure things reproduce - why - you might find those individuals that found it felt good, did it more, had more off spring, and after a few generations out number the rest of the population, so boom - now pleasurable sex has evolved. Take some responsibility for your own life and see the world and your place in it for what it is - or perhaps that is just too scary.
817849
That's impossible to quantify at the present. We'd have to poll millions of people around the globe just to get a reasonable demographic. What's more, everyone really should believe in evolution, and anyone who does not believe in evolution is clearly ignoring the facts. Evolution is a fact, not a possibility, and not just a theory. Whether or not it conflicts with Christianity's premise is yet to be determined, and I really could not care less. Evolution isn't a religious doctrine, it's a scientific analysis.
555087
No, there are no good reasons to believe in evolution.  As a Christian you should only believe in the Bible (God's words).  The Bible speaks nothing about evolution.
785532
No evolution does not disprove god.  But it does pose a very large challenge.  Evolution and Christianity are not as compatible as you may think.  If evolution is the correct theory, then that means that the literalist biblical theory is not right.  Sure you might be able to save it by saying that it is metaphorically true (say, a day to god equals a billion years or whatever).  But if some parts of the bible are not literally true, then why think that any of it is literally true?  Jesus, God, etc. can all be seen as being metaphors for the natural world and the human condition.  With no way to really tell what is literally true and what is metaphorically true, allowing that at least some of it is not literally makes the rest questionable.  If one part is not true, or only becomes true if you take it as a metaphor, what does that say about the rest?  What the bible says then cannot be believed just because it is in the bible anymore, and one of the central justifications of christianity crumbles.  of course god can still exist, but its a major challenge.\n\nOk as for your other question about how can an atheist account for the existence of anything without a God:  all i have to do is ask you where god came from.  Did god come from nothing?  Was he always there?  If you say god came from nothing, then you violate your own rule that nothing can come from nothing.  If you say he was always there, then why can't the atheist just say that the universe was always here?  Why can't the atheist just say that the universe always existed?  Its more likely (by occam's razor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor ) than the belief that god was always there.  Religion doesn't answer the question of where things came from, it only begs the question of where god came from.  Under the religous explanation nothing is really explained.\n\nI admire your call to tolerance and hope of compatibility, but i'm afraid its nothing more than political correctness.  It would be nice if both sides could be right, but when you think about it there really is a tension.
595145
The Great Apes, and, no - I've seen nothing that would tell me they have religion. I really don't see what your question has to do with evolution. Are you saying that people that don't believe in evolution also don't believe that there are some animals that are smarter than others?
770975
Well, since both reincarnation and creation are religious beliefs, while evolution is a scientific theory, it's comparing apples to oranges. They are in whole different realms.\n\nI'd like to point out that the poster above me (Paganfire) is mistaken. Her explanation of evolution is actually that of thermodynamics. Biological evolution is descent with modification. Many people lump all the theories of science together as one 'belief', but they are not beliefs, as they are built on evidence.
357135
Evolution is a fact. People, plants, animals, weather, land masses and bodies of water all evolve. The word evolve means to develop or achieve gradually. However, the theory that evolution and the big bang are the origin of life is not a fact, only a theory. The beginning of life and matter is the one most significant and extraordinary event of all time, so how it happened is likely to be similarly extraordinary story. The Bible does not say "Thou shalt not evolve", nor does it say that "nothing ever develops and changes", in fact it calls us to evolve - spiritually, socially, and mentally. The Bible teaches us that there is only one thing that never changes - God. Why is it easier to believe that all of a sudden everything blew up and here we were - oops! No, things happen on purpose more often than they do by accident. Especially extraordinary things. They say that a bunch of monkeys could type the works of Shakepeare if given enough time... but wouldn't it be more efficient and infinitely quicker to let Shakepeare do it on purpose? And isn't one of the basic principles of nature efficiency? (i.e. the path of least resistance) So, no I don't think it's difficult to believe that an organized and developed being created an organized and developed universe. Also... as a Christian, I do not believe that we were created to assuage God's boredom. I believe we were created to love God - by our own free will rather than by force.
716247
That is called theistic evolution.
933375
Whatever you think about evolution and creation is your own business but to say that evolution is religion is a mistake. Evolution is a science and says nothing about God or salvation; if you think it does, you're mistaken. If evolution is a religion then so is physics and chemistry because evolution is based on the very same principles that tell us everything we know about the physical and chemical world.
764437
Well, I'm not sure which version of Webster's you got your definition from, but I have the 2003 edition of Webster's New World Dictionary, and here's its definition of religion.\n\nReligion: n, from the Latin religio, holiness. 1. belief in and worship of God or gods. 2. a specific system of belief, worship, etc., often involving a code of ethics.\n\nSeeing as how Evolution isn't a God(or gods, considering Micro and Macro evolutions), it can't be a religion by definition 1. Secondly, while people can believe in evolution, maybe even worship it(heh, if one's nutty enough. Most people I know who know evolution to be fact don't worship it, but I suppose there might be some nuts out there who do...), there's no code of ethics involved. Scientific rules as to what defines evolution, but no ethics demanding it.\n\nTherefore, it's not a religion. The very definition of religion shows that.\n\nAs far as Macro and Micro evolution, while Macro can't be observed, that's because Macroevolution takes place over thousands and millions of years. Last I checked, people barely lived to be 100. Unless someone's able to live for that long, it's impossible for us to truly observe it, at least with current technology.\n\nHowever, Microevolution is tiny, observable steps within a given species. These are clues to the answer of Macroevolution. It's like a puzzle. Microevolution is observable in the here and now. Macroevolution takes thousands and millions of years. But each moment of Microevolution leads to Macroevolution, one piece of the puzzle at a time. Considering that, Macroevolution is as good as observed from each piece of Microevolution.\n\nSo it's not a religion on the basis of the very definition of a religion, and while Macroevolution can't be seen because it takes so long to occur, it can be observed over time by putting together the instances of Microevolution.
536832
Yes. Many people hold those sorts of beliefs. God created the universe, and Evolution is part of His plan. No biggie.