Do atheists think that evolution theory proves that there is no God?

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Originally Posted by oldcajun

It all boils down to who you put your faith in, man's ideas or God.

Well, that's a false dichotomy if I've ever seen one.

And I think it's rather hubristic to elevate people's ideas about God to the status of God.

[Storm]

Originally Posted by 9-10ths_Penguin

The theory of evolution does say one thing about God: that Creationism does not work generally, and therefore doesn't work as an argument for His existence.

When you say "Creationism," do you mean YEC, or Creationism in general?

It also says that certain creation myths are not literally true, which can have implications for some people's ideas about God.

Sad but true. I would like to point out, however, that theology does this as well.

That's probably because the theory of evolution doesn't disprove God.

Ya think? Still, it would be nice if they would at least TRY to formulate an argument to support such assertions.

[Storm]

Originally Posted by oldcajun

It all boils down to who you put your faith in, man's ideas or God.

How do you know "man's ideas" don't come from God? Perhaps He no longer sends Prophets because we're sufficiently advanced to begin discerning Him through science.

My father always said: God exists. "If you would know His mind, study His works." Also, "Creation is God's only solo project."

Personally, I think the unspeakable elegance of nature reveals the glory of God better than any man-made book could ever hope to do.

[Autodidact]

The theory of evolution is correct.
If you believe in a specific story about a specific God that is contrary to ToE, then you believe wrong.
ToE does not disprove any God that is consistent with it, such as a Deist God, for example.
Whether you think ToE disproves Yahweh probably depends on your conception of Yahweh's nature.

ToE does contribute to a large body of knowledge that explains many of the things that people used to explain only by resorting to God or magic.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by camanintx

No, but Quantum Cosmology certainly does.

Originally Posted by camanintx

As Stephen Hawking put it in "A Brief History of Time", in Quantum Cosmology, "there would be no singularities at which the laws of science broke down and no edge of space-time at which one would have to appeal to God or some new law to set the boundary conditions for space-time . . . The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE . . . What place, then, for a creator?"

In other words ...

If there is no need for God.
Then there is no need for God.
Therefore, there is no God.

It needs work.

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Originally Posted by Storm

When you say "Creationism," do you mean YEC, or Creationism in general?

I mean any form of Creationism that denies that the mechanisms of evolution caused speciation and the variety of life on Earth, and that some sort of deity created each species individually. I've personally heard young- and old-Earth versions of this.

I should probably point out that I consider the idea that God "started the ball rolling" and left evolution to run its course to be theistic evolution, which I consider something different than Creationism.

[Storm]

OK, that's why I asked. I personally have a much broader defintion of Creationism.

[camanintx]

Originally Posted by Storm

Well, from your description, I have to disagree that it disproves God. It squeezes the God of the gaps into yet a smaller space, but we all know that's poor theology anyway.

I guess it depends on how you define God. Since my general definition includes creator of the universe, then a theory that doesn't allow for creation automatically disproves God.

Originally Posted by Storm

I don't see why an eternal Creator deity couldn't Create an eternal universe.

Also, doesn't this contradict the well-established Big Bang theory?

The traditional Big Bang Theory only says that the universe was very hot and dense 10^-43 seconds after it began. Quantum Cosmology attempts to explain what happened during this period so there is no conflict.