Atheists, when you learnt about the evolution theory, was this the turning point for giving up on religion?

Question

I must admit that our education regarding the evolution theory was not the best when I was at school. We were taught that this is just a theory and we are not monkeys etc.

However I have done some more research on the theory (after I have been screamed at by various athiests) and it is rather interesting. The only thing is that it still did not do anything to change my faith in the lord.

I am interested to hear from atheists whether this theory changed there minds or was there something else.

I am proud to be a Christian and I am sure all the scientific theories can be explained or even incorporated with religion. Am I wrong to think this way?

God bless!

Answer 1

I have a christian friend who had a hard time accepting evolution, too. her way of reconcile the 2 seemingly disparate things was to think that maybe when the process started it was the "hand of god" that got the ball rolling.



perhaps thinking along those lines can help you bring it into line with what you believe as a christian.

Answer 2

I was already an atheist when I started really learning about evolution so I had already abandoned faith. However, I applaud you for doing more research and I hope you'll find the subject more and more interesting as time goes by. Certainly you can be a Christian and accept evolutionary theory. In my opinion, those who demand that God created the world in 6 days are limiting Him severely. Doesn't even the Bible say that His ways are not our ways? Well, maybe his time is not our time either. Maybe evolution was the mechanism he chose.



Regardless of how you work it out, the important thing is that you're working on it. That means you are growing as a person. That's why I hang around here too.

Answer 3

Actually, evolution was never taught to me in school. I went to a Catholic school for most of my elementary and junior high years, but I was in the AP class for biology, yet we never once touched the subject.



I had to teach the theory to myself while I was in college. By then, I was already a nonbeliever. It wasn't any particular event that causd this. For other reasons, I decided at one time to rebuild what I believed from the ground up. It's now been years later, and I still have not found a reason to believe in a god(s), so I don't. It's that simple. I accept evolution as a "best idea" for species diversity, as the evidence behind it is staggering, but I don't care if it was torn down someday. Like you, I do find it a very interesting idea, but it isn't necessarily tied to the things I believe. I'm a philosopher, not a scientist.



Finally, it is never wrong to try to incorporate new information into your old way of understanding. It's actually an important process that human beings must do, and it's a sign of intellectual integrity. It's only wrong when you find such information and refuse to accept it, and your only reason for doing so is because it doesn't fit your preconceived notions. This is not an issue that's just restricted to believers, nor is it just restricted to religious and spiritual issues.

Answer 4

The question implies that we were indoctrinated to begin with, which thankfully I wasn't. Otherwise I might cling to unfounded emotion-based beliefs. Remember, we're all born atheists and only our culture and/or superstitious nature can change that.



Evolutionary theory doesn't necessarily disprove the existence of a deity (though it contradicts some religious stories). There could still be an invisible unicorn that created the universe or set the evolutionary process in motion; we just have zero evidence of it.



So, the good news for theists is that they can modify their beliefs from literal to more metaphorical and still leave room for a comforting belief in God while not turning a blind eye to overwhelming scientific evidence. There's always a way that the superstitious can shift their beliefs into "the margins of the science books."

Answer 5

No, I learned about evolution in high school, but I didn't become an atheist until several years later.



The theory of evolution does not inherently suggest one way or the other whether there is a God. It is possible that God could have created humans through the vehicle of the evolutionary process. I don't personally believe that, but it is a reasonable belief for many Christians to hold.

Answer 6

No, growing up was. I was more grown up than anyone from the bible age by the time I was 10.



As for evolution... I think I have a little more education in it than YOU do from the sounds of it. You see, I went to University to study Biology and everything to do with it. Along the way, I also studied chemistry, archealogy, anthropology, and history. I understand it just fine because I have more than a rudimentary understanding that I got from more than a couple books from the library.



As for your religion... yes I think you are wrong. You are allowing yourself to be scared into doing what a religion wants instead of using your brain to DECIDE (without fear of punishment) what YOU think is right.

Answer 7

Well, I havent even heard of evolution till my 3rd grade, and i think i forsake religion somewhere around the second grade, right around the time i was adopted, my brothers to different familys, my mother in jail, and me left alone in a family i did not understand.



After contemplating with my second grade mind, and using Encyclopedia Brittanica (I have an I.Q. apparently of 185) I found myself doubting many of the storys, such as Jesus curing the Blind by touch, Noah and his Ark, and Moses parting the red sea when there is NO FAULT LINE anywhere near it. So, i shunned it. Many more sotrys i could list, but i do not feel like sharing them all.



17, IQ of 185 last time i took a test.

Answer 8

It had nothing to do with my becoming atheist. I accepted the theory of evolution long before I ever questioned my faith. I just thought of it as the means that God used to "create" us. There's no reason whatsoever you shouldn't be able to understand the theory of evolution and still think that that's the way that "God" decided to do things.

Answer 9

No. Learning about evolution was just another step in my education in science. It really had nothing to do with faith or beliefs. But I tend to be a scientific minded person. And as I get my information from science, I realized there was no logical evidence or reasons to believe in God, unicorns, xenu, leprechauns, etc, etc. So I guess there is a 6 degrees of separation type of a relation to evolution and my Atheism.

Answer 10

No. My knowledge of evolution did not play a role in my atheism. Even when I was a convinced and convicted Sinner of a Christian, I believed evolution was a valid description of the process by which God caused the massive diversity of life on this planet.

Answer 11

It did not change my religion. I was an atheist before I learned about evolution.





I agree, science does not disprove God. It does disprove the bible though. If you are O.K. with that, and can reconcile the logical flaws in the typical Christian definition of God, and that He seems to have chosen a rather odd way to get the universe to create us for him, then good luck to you.

Answer 12

I've never had a religion. I did eight years in Sunday School and remained an unbeliever the whole time - even before I knew what "atheism" was.

Answer 13

No. I was raised in a secular home with no belief in deities prior to being educated regarding evolution. As for your last question, so long as you allow for the possibility that there are other valid and honorable paths in life that may differ from yours, there is no harm in being proud of who you are.

Answer 14

It made no difference to me at all. I can't remember a time when i didn't believe in evolution and i was also a Christian for a long time. When i learned my mother was a Creationist, it harmed my respect for her a lot.



I agree with you in general, but i do think quantum physics is a threat because if you believe in God, everything is observed and it can't work.

Answer 15

Science and religion are not exclusive. I accept evolution because of the evidence but I am still devout in my beliefs.

Answer 16

I figured there was something wrong when the bible says we all came from 2 people, get real all the billions of humans you expect me to believe we all came from Adam and Eve? We did not come from 2 people rather we evolved into it, it was a process.

Answer 17

Yes it was.



And the reason that you still think Christianity is compatible with it, is because you haven't thought this through. Were Adam and Eve Cro-Magnons...? ... Neandertals?



There was no Adam and Eve. There was no Garden Of Eden.



Think about the implications of that. If you still don't get it... read the book of Genesis again. Then read the passages in Matthew where Jesus spoke of Genesis as literal truth.

Answer 18

Does evolution disprove religion?

Answer 19

I lost my faith, long before I had ever heard of evolution.

Answer 20

I hope you come back to this as evolution has many flaws. Stay a christian and hold creation as the fact. Evolutionists are delusional

Answer 21

No, I became an atheist long before I got an interest in anything scientific.

Answer 22

they never really talked about evolution in my school, probably to avoid controversy with children's parents or something. so it was irrelevent to me being an atheist or not.

Answer 23

Not at all. I gave up belief in gods long before I learned about evolution.

Answer 24

i think the flat earth, stars hang from golden chains, flying mules, 6,000 year old earth, fairy-tales like noah and the ark, that was a bedtime story for children wtitten 4,500 years ago. may have opened my eyes.

Answer 25

Nope - I didn't believe in any religion before studying evolution and i still don't.

Answer 26

I accepted evolution long before I dropped kicked religion.

Answer 27

evolution and atheism do not go hand in hand, my friend is an atheist who does not believe in evolution believe it or not.



no my atheism came from lack of evidence not from evolution

Answer 28

I was an atheist before I was interested in religion or biology.

Answer 29

I never believed in any religion and can't remember a time when it didn't make sense to me that organisms evolved slowly over time.



If there is a god, he employed evolution.

Answer 30

No i was just brought up to be open minded and have a logical stance of the world.

Answer 31

I became an atheist long before I even heard about the TOE....

Answer 32

No. That had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Answer 33

no you arent wrong....excuses wont help them when judgment comes