How Can Evolution Destroy Faith In God? (Darwin, Earth, creation)

[Nick Soapdish]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Why do some people believe that accepting evolution as a fact destroys belief in the God of the Bible?

I believe the evolutionary process has some truth to it. I just find the idea that it was started and completely driven by indifferent processes too hard to believe.

[MdmSzdWhtGuy]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Why do some people believe that accepting evolution as a fact destroys belief in the God of the Bible?

Biblical literalism my friend. If every word is the literal word of God, then there was a Noahic Flood, we have a Young Earth, and the dinosaur bones were either planted there to test our faith, or the dino's died in the flood. Because these things are THE WAY THINGS ARE, then the idea of a Billions of years old Earth and Evolution are obviously just things made up by egghead's to try to erode the one true faith.

At least those are the stories I hear in North Texas by the good Evangelicals I work with, who are all very happy to inform me that I am wrong and will be wishing I had listened to them 2 seconds after I die and the flames start to lick at me.

B.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by 9-10ths_Penguin

I've never heard this before. When and where did Darwin argue this?

I'll find it.... I have written an article on the first Christian responses to Darwin. As you'll see, Christian rebuttals to evolution have not changed.

Some Notes on Charles Hodge

From the great and powerful wiki:

Charles Darwin's views on religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The old argument of design in nature, as given by Paley, which formerly seemed to me so conclusive, fails, now that the law of natural selection had been discovered. We can no longer argue that, for instance, the beautiful hinge of a bivalve shell must have been made by an intelligent being, like the hinge of a door by man. There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the wind blows. Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws." (p.87)

That quote was from his autobiography:

The Autobiography of Charles Darwin was published posthumously, and quotes about Christianity were omitted by Darwin's wife Emma and his son Francis because they were deemed dangerous for Charles Darwin's reputation. Only in 1958 Darwin's granddaughter Nora Barlow published a revised version which contained the omissions. This included statements such as the following:

[Fluffy]

It defeats the argument from design which beforehand was a major defeater of atheism.

[Seyorni]

Originally Posted by Nick Soapdish

I believe the evolutionary process has some truth to it. I just find the idea that it was started and completely driven by indifferent processes too hard to believe.

I understand, Nick, but by the same token many find the idea that evolution might be driven by magic a bit hard to swallow, as well.

[Nick Soapdish]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

I understand, Nick, but by the same token many find the idea that evolution might be driven by magic a bit hard to swallow, as well.

You are mis-characterizing my post.

Miracle
1.an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.

Magic
1. the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.; legerdemain; conjuring: to pull a rabbit out of a hat by magic.

[Seyorni]

Point taken, my friend. But I'm afraid I find your definition of magic as exclusively an entertainment art unrealistically narrow.

Magic is usually conceived of as any effect with an unknowable or inexplicable mechanism. Folklore is full of examples.

Inasmuch as positing God as sufficient explanation of a Natural phenomenon is positing an unknowable/inexplicable mechanism (or ignoring the stumbling-block of mechanism completely), I'd say it was, in fact, an appeal to magic.

[Terrywoodenpic]

Darwin never saw his theories as in any way against Christianity nor God.
It was fundamentalists who had the problem with his science;
As they already knew how the world and nature worked.
Bible alone Christianity had not yet become a subset of Christianity in his day.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Terrywoodenpic

Darwin never saw his theories as in any way against Christianity nor God.
It was fundamentalists who had the problem with his science;
As they already knew how the world and nature worked.
Bible alone Christianity had not yet become a subset of Christianity in his day.

See quote above. Darwin made many statements against Christianity, but wanted to remain a theist.

Charles Darwin's views on religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine." (p. 87)