• Question: Why do religious people not believe in evolution if scientists have found skeletons of apes that we have evolved from?

    Asked by isaacnewton123 to Amar, Ana, Andrea, Leah, Matt on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Matthew Lam

      Matthew Lam answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      I think most religious people would still accept the idea of evolution. It is usually religious extremists that deny evolution because they believe very strongly that (for Christianity) God created the Universe in 7 days including everything that is in it now, and that all humans on Earth are descended from Adam and Eve.

      It is also often rejected because it s thought that evolution denies the existence of a God. This isn’t actually true because evolution describes how modern organisms have come to be the way they are through time but doesn’t deny that there may be a God.

      I am biased because I am an atheist and do not believe in any religion. As a scientist I think that there is so much scientific evidence to prove that evolution by natural selection occurs in nature that it is madness to deny evolution.

      Because bacteria reproduce so quickly its possible to watch evolution happening in the lab. It is evolution that causes bacteria to become resistant to drugs and also why cancers can become resistant to treatment over time.

    • Photo: Anastasia Wass

      Anastasia Wass answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Skeletons and other fossils aren’t conclusive proof of evolution. There are big gaps in the number of skeletons dug up and how we think this links to humans evolution. Better examples of evolution are things we can see in action. Bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics all the time. Cancer is also a great excellent example of evolution!

    • Photo: Andrea Hanvey

      Andrea Hanvey answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      the great debate science versus religion. I know alot of scientists that are very religious believe in god and evolution. The theory of evolution is based on the evidence of the skeletons you mention, andn is the best plausible explanation as to how we got here. so i think alot of religious people do accept the theory of evolution. like Matthew states its religious extremists that dont believe in evolution. maybe the creationists are doing it for the lulz?

    • Photo: Amar Joshi

      Amar Joshi answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      I think it is not a question about believing in evolution. The evidence for there being a common ancestor for all animals and the theory of evolution by natural selection are so strong that it is more likely that some people ignore it.

      People can ignore evidence for many reasons, but the most obvious is that the evidence in front of them conflicts with their ideals. In most religions there is a story of ‘creation’ that some people choose to interpret literally. As evolution is not compatible with creation they ignore it.

      A similar thing is going on about climate change denial. Many people choose to ignore evidence that the cause of global climate change is man made as it would go against things they believe in. But this is never the best thing to do.

Comments