What benefit is there in believing evolution vs creation in day to day life?

Question

Just wondering I see so many post here trying to (convert for lack of a better word) people to the evolution theory vs their belief in creation.
I feel the people doing this must have a heavy burden or concern fo people who do not believe in it otherwise they wouldn't waste so much time trying to convince the creationist.

I'm not talking about what christians believe as far as sin and so forth because even some who believe in evolution (and yes there are some who do) still have the same convictions and faith values, they are happy in their beliefs so that would not change.

So what if any do you see as the benefit for them to believe in evolution vs creation in day to day life?

Thanks for your answers.

Answer 1

I don't know of anyone that gets up in the morning and says...um..evolution sure makes my day. To most people it isn't important in their daily lives. On this forum it is just one of the many things people beat each other over the head with.

Answer 2

Knowledge and intellectual curiosity are always rewarding. It keeps life interesting and gives me a sense of wonder and awe at our existence. Many other atheists do not find this interesting and would not say it added to their lives much at all. There are many other scientific theories which do not add much to mine. I have been unable to summon much interest in the Big Bang or abiogenesis. Accepting that god does not exist has been very liberating. I can focus on Humanism and no longer struggle with the fact that Christians believe my gay cousin and atheist parents are going to Hell. I can do whatever I want with my career despite being a woman. My daughter is not growing up in fear of hell as I did (from school, not parents - i live in the UK) and my own sense of morality and right and wrong feels much better to my conscience than Christian ones. I can believe that I must help others, harm no-one and taking that into account do what makes me happy.

Answer 3

The more people think that creationism is a valid hypothesis, the more likely they are to support ridiculous ideas like having creationism (aka "Intelligent Design") taught in public school science classes. People should at least know the difference between wild religious speculation and a viable scientific hypothesis. I don't care so much if people believe in creationism, as long as they realize that there is no room for it in science classrooms, and they do not try to prevent the teaching of the theory of evolution by natural selection. If they want to fill their kids' heads with lies when they get home from school, I don't much like it but there's nothing I can do to prevent it.

Answer 4

The same sort of benefit as there is in believing that television pictures are formed by a beam of electrons striking a phosphor coating on the inside of an evacuated glass tube, as opposed to believing that there are tiny people inside a TV set who act out all the programmes.



Also, since the whole of modern medicine depends on evolutionary theory, I'm going to say "living to fifty".

Answer 5

What benefit is there in believing gravity vs intelligent falling in day to day life?



Same answer. Evolution and gravity lead to a better understanding of the world around us, as does the rest of our knowledge of the sciences. Religion clouds that understanding and then tries to make us think ignorance is okay. For instance, evolution has led scientists to coming up with several vaccinations. What has creation ever done? (Oh, that's right. Nothing.)

Answer 6

Real world decisions and policy are best based on accurate knowledge. When you choose to go yearly for a flu shot that is due in part to our understanding of how viruses evolve and you are acknowledging acceptance of that fact. Imagine someone so ingrained that they must live their life on faith in things that are contradicted by knowledge and say that they base life choices like medical care on that. They pray rather then take their kids for medical care, vaccination, or flu shots. They then have a higher chance of becoming ill or even dying. They can also potentially put others at risk. Imagine if they exist in great enough numbers and are so threatened by the new knowledge contradicting their faith beliefs they try and perhaps succeed in legislating to ban new break throughs that can save or improve lives and now you can't even go and get vaccinations for your child. They also shut down funding for important research in the fear it contradicts what they want to believe regardless of evidence. They protest the knowledge being passed on for future generations to know of and expand on. This slows the potential progress and benefits to society. This is just one example.

Answer 7

People that believe in creation are willingly or unwillingly ignorant. Both of these situations are a detriment to society and the evolution v. creation debate is just a popular way to bring it up.



Think of where we would be if evolutionary science hadn't developed the countless vaccines it is responsible for. Denying these facts slows down human progress.

Answer 8

A belief in creationism SEEMS to (very often, always?) show a basic "hole" in one's education, including a lack of understanding of certain basic scientific and logical though process, either of which could pose some problems in certain Life situations. It also often shows a lapse in mental-analysis capabilities, or at least a lack of ability to discern correct information, allowing distractions for critical understanding, again a potential source of problems in certain Life situations. Other than that, one can BELIEVE anything one wants to and as long as one doesn't present those beliefs to external scrutiny. As the old saying goes: "Better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than yo open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

Answer 9

who knows what benefits might come from more people having a better understanding of reality?



Many drugs are developed using evolutionary biology in mind for example.



I mean how different do you think the world would be if half the people in it thought the planet was flat? Do you think communications would be as advanced? I don't think so.



Having a better grasp and understanding of reality can only be beneficial, no matter how little or how much and who knows what benefits could come from more people accepting evolution.

Answer 10

The belief of existence one way or another in and of itself has none...the impact is when scarce resources of time and money are spent to teach concepts of highly questionable validity in schools or base legislation on them. Want to teach creationism? Fine, as long as it's limited to within a Comparative Religion class or the like...just keep it out of the science classes.

Answer 11

Most Christians I know, to include myself, don't think of it as a versus situation. I believe evolution is merely a process and God set in motion the process.

Answer 12

By all means since Joe Schmo gulping beer and smacking his kids around hasn't dissected a frog since high school biology lets just ignore biology.

Answer 13

Call me crazy, but I've always figured that knowing the truth is better than believing a falsehood, even if believing the falsehood makes you happier than knowing the truth.

Answer 14

it comes down to you wanting to be in a religious school or not. If the school is controlled by religion it can not objectively debate the world.

Answer 15

Regenerative medicine, flu vaccinations, fertility clinics, and insulin are several such benefits.

Answer 16

The benefit is you get to live in the real world.

Answer 17

Living in a world of stupid makes me sad. =0(

Answer 18

reality is a better place to be than that particular fantasy that they've created.