is evolution a religion?

Question

Leading anti-creationist philosopher admits that
evolution is a religion

‘Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than mere science. Evolution is promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion—a full-fledged alternative to Christianity, with meaning and morality. I am an ardent evolutionist and an ex-Christian, but I must admit that in this one complaint—and Mr [sic] Gish is but one of many to make it—the literalists are absolutely right. Evolution is a religion. This was true of evolution in the beginning, and it is true of evolution still today.
‘… Evolution therefore came into being as a kind of secular ideology, an explicit substitute for Christianity.’ Michael Ruse. Saving Darwinism from the Darwinians. National Post (May 13, 2000). pB-3.



“…evolution is the backbone of biology and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on unproven theory. Is it then a science or a faith? Belief in the theory of evolution is thus exactly parallel to belief in special creation. Both are concepts which the believers know to be true, but neither, up to the present, has been capable of proof.” L.H. Matthews, "Introduction to Origin of the Species, by Charles Darwin (1971 edition), pp. x, xi.


Do you agree with these men? Why or why not? I have many more similar quotes from several evolutionists who claim evolution requires faith.

Webster’s Dictionary defines religion as follows: “Cause, principle or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.”

http://www.firmfoundationpublishing.com/ff/articles/apologetics/112_09_07.htm

http://www.nwcreation.net/evolutionism.html

Answer 1

.

Evolution is not a science, but is a religion.



Science, of course, involves observation, using on or more of our five senses (taste, sight, smell, hearing touch) to gain knowledge about the world, and being able to repeat the observation.

No living scientist was there to observe the first life forming in some primeval sea.

No living scientist was there to observe the “big bang” some billions of years ago.

No living scientist was there to observe the supposed formation of the earth.

No scientist was there, no human witness was there to see these events occurring.

And they certainly cannot be repeated today.

All the evidence a scientist has exists only in the present. The average person (including students) are not taught that scientists have only the present and cannot deal directly with the past.

Evolution is a belief system about the past based on the words of men who were not there, but who are trying to explain how all the evidence of the present (that is fossils, animals, plants etc.) originated.



Webster’s Dictionary defines religion as follows: “Cause, principle or system of beliefs held to with ardour and faith.” Surely this is an apt description of evolution.



Evolution is a belief system – A RELIGION !



May God bless you as you study His Word



<:SDA><



King James Bible

Answer 2

Is Evolution A Religion

Answer 3

I don't agree at all.



First, let us define religion:



a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.



How can accepting the scientific theory of evolution be a religion based on that definition?



Evolution isn't an a superhuman. It doesn't give me a moral code to live by. And to my knowledge, there are no rituals to be practiced for those who accept evolution.



Evolution is a scientific theory that has been arrived at based on empirical evidence and not faith. Anyone who claims that is either misusing the word faith, or has no clue as to how science works.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

is evolution a religion?

Leading anti-creationist philosopher admits that

evolution is a religion



‘Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than mere science. Evolution is promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion—a full-fledged alternative to Christianity, with meaning and morality. I am an ardent...

Answer 5

No, evolution is the change in allele frequencies in a breeding population over time. If you're not a clone of your parent, you're an observation of evolution occurring.



Darwin didn't invent evolution, Darwin EXPLAINED evolution in terms of survival being among those more fit than others. (The alternative is that the LESS fit survive and that's so contrary to both common sense and observation that, to quote Fermi, it's not even wrong. It would have to be more sane to be nonsense.)



What you may be talking about is speciation, the gradual change of one species into another. That's not a theory, it's an observation - species DO change into other species. Gradually, step by step, until they're no longer interfertile (one definition of "species"). (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/speciation.html )



For instance, horses and donkeys are almost non-interfertile. (Most offspring are sterile.) They both spring from the same parent species, however. Lions and tigers, OTOH, are the same species (just the way chihuahuas and rottweilers are). Eventually they'll speciate and no longer be interfertile.



Nothing in there about any beliefs, just plain old facts. If you want to redefine evolution to mean a monkey giving birth to a human baby, then you;re right. And if I redefine Christianity to mean belief in killing babies before they're one month old, but after they're born, then Christianity is an awful belief. You can win any argument by redefining words, but that's just being childish.

Answer 6

No, it's not. It's a scientific theory. Is Germ Theory a religion too? How about Atomic Theory? If thinking something is correct counts as a religion then calling evolution a religion is a bit useless, don't you think? Thinking that it's a religion is a religion, thinking you're on Y!A is a religion, thinking you're reading this post is a religion...

Answer 7

I don't really care which quotes you mined from which people...

1. It shows how desparate you people are.

2. The Theory of Evolution has LOTS of FACTS to support it.

3. Cretinism relies entirely on... wait for it... wait for it... MAGIC... woo-woo.





"Creationism" i.e. fundamentalism, or "Biblical literalism" is an affront to true faith. How can they make a case for a divine "designer" while in the same breath denying the evidence of the "design" (i.e. evolution)??

While the majority of Christians (including Catholics) and even Jews and Muslims (& people of other faiths) believe that God did indeed "create" the universe and all life -- we understand and recognize that S/He used the "big bang", abiogenesis, and evolution (just like gravity & relativity) to DO it!



“Creationists are actually doing more to destroy Christianity than any atheist or scientist could care to. They make all people of faith (especially Christians) look retarded.”



I did NOT call you people retards.





Fact = verifiably accurate data

Law = statement which is always true under specific circumstances

Hypothesis = testable, potentially falsifiable, explanation of facts/laws

Theory = unifying framework explaining all of the above



All the available evidence from any source anywhere supports permits or aligns with evolution unanimously and exclusively… there is no factual evidence against evolution but if there was that would not be evidence for creationism.



Deal with it and stop LYING !

~

Answer 8

Not even slightly, if any evidence arose that made something other then evolution seem the most likely explanation for the diversity of life I would abandon evolution immediately.



It is currently, given the evidence available, the best explanation for the diversity of life. This is like saying the theory of gravity is a religion, it simply makes no sense, as both as evidence based and faith is the exact opposite of such. Similarly I have no love for such a theory nor do I much care if something arises that changes my view on it.



Edit: To clarify your first quote is in reference to the same kind of people who are fervently into baseball, to some people it is important to them for some reason, however unlike a religion this is not always the case in everyone who believes it or contributes towards it



The second quote is taken out of context, see 4.7 in this page: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/part4.html



FURTHER! How would you explain the many many many many people of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, ect that accept evolution? They already have religions, there really wouldn't be room for a second.

Answer 9

Nope, I don't. If you'd like, I'd be happy to quote-mine for comments by interested parties showing that evolution is NOT a religion, and match you quote for quote.



If you consider evolution a religion, then you should consider gravity a religion for the same reasons. I can elucidate on this if you'd like.

Answer 10

If evolution is a religion, then solving Rubik's cubes is an ethnicity, and playing tennis is a political ideology.



Evolution is a natural phenomenon. Putting any normative or moral constraints on it would be absurd. It is just a fact of nature, and the theory of evolution attempts to describe that fact, whether it is accurate or not. It doesn't in itself say "do this, do this," it just tells us how things are in reality.

Answer 11

In mathematics axioms are only assumed true for the purpose of seeing what results from that assumption. There is no assumption made based on observations of the real world. Nor is there any assumption that those axioms are themselves true in any sense. Mathematics is instead essentially those necessary truths of the form "If X then Y" where X consists of sets of axioms and Y consists of necessary conclusions based on those axioms. Historically The church fought for years against non-euclidean geometry. So much so that the introduction of non-euclidean geometry was delayed because mathematicians (namely Gauss ) feared for their saftey.

Answer 12

religion[ ri-lij-uhn ]

noun

1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.

3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.

Answer 13

Yes, it is. It is taken by faith therefore, a religion

Answer 14

Yes but they don't like the word religion nor understand the difference between conjucture and evidence.

Answer 15

I do agree with those quotes, I think you know why, since you've done your research. Great question by the way.

Answer 16

So, two guys say its a religion, and that makes it a religion.





Well, there are more than 2 people who think that Christianity is a steming pile of horse doody, and according to your logic, that must be correct, since 2 or more people believe it.

Answer 17

Got to any dictionary and look up "religion". There are dictionaries online that are free to use.



Evolution is not a supernatural being that requires worship.

Answer 18

No evolution is a scientific theory based on facts much in the same way that you die without water. Creationism is a non-scientific theory based on non-facts much in the same way that logically if you flap your arms really hard you can fly. There are alternative theories of evolution besides Darwins.

Answer 19

Only in the sense it has followers. Evolution does not promise eternal life as a reward for following its strictures, rather says it is the explanation of all beings' drive to evolve to survive changing circumstances. Religion is a structured belief system, not an explanation of biology.

Answer 20

No, its a science. There are no true Darwinists out there because there's no rule book or system of ritual. You can believe in evolution and either be a theist or atheist or non theist. In fact, you can believe in evolution and not believe everything that is believed by scientists.

Answer 21

No. it is not.



It is not a 'Cause', nor a 'principle', or a 'system of beliefs'. It's a "Scientific Theory" based on multitudes of experiments that have been reviewed my numerous scientists, all looking for flaws in the data.



Something you should know - a good scientist is not always trying to prove something correct. They are always looking for bad/false data, or poor plyperformed tests. They want the Truth.



The Theory of Evolution itself is contantly growing and changing - evolving - as all good scientific theories should be.



And don't give me any of that "It's just a theory" nonsense. What we know about Gravity is called the "Theory of Gravity" too - but we're pretty sure we have most of it right. It's always being studied also, and when we find out more, that "Theory" changes.



It is not a religion, plain and simple.

Answer 22

It has become common for critics of evolution to claim that it is a religion which is being improperly supported by the government when it is taught in schools. No other facet of science is singled out for this treatment, at least not yet, but it is part of a wider effort to undermine naturalistic science.



A simple examination of the characteristics which best define religions, distinguishing them from other types of belief systems, reveals just how wrong such claims are: evolution is not a religion or a religious belief system because it does not possess the characteristics of religions.

Answer 23

Religion, from New Oxford American Dictionary: the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods



Nope.

Answer 24

Religion is man's way of finding God. so... no

Answer 25

No, you've been reading false creationist propaganda.

Answer 26

It is, a totally unproven theory accepted as absolute fact.

Answer 27

Yes, it is Satan-worship. BAN IT FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS!

Answer 28

Only to people who do not understand what a religion is.





Also, here's a link showing why the quotemining you are doing is out of context and presented dishonestly.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/part4.html#quote4.7

Answer 29

No. It's a scientific fact.

Answer 30

It's a personal relationship with Charles Darwin.

Answer 31

is using the computer a religion? I mean seriously, ask better questions

Answer 32

No we do not have a leader,build churches,pray to Darwin nor kill in the name of evolution

Answer 33

No, thats the stupidest thing i've ever heard.

Answer 34

No, it is not. It is a philosophy.

Answer 35

No.

Answer 36

Yes, evolution is a religion, much like Yams, Cheesecake and Dislike of Lima Beans.