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TwilightPrincess
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17 Dec 2024, 1:11 pm

I’ve been on both sides of the coin as a former evangelical although my beliefs were likely more extreme than most. We were taught to believe that Satan was blinding the minds of nonbelievers, even scientists, and that evidence was often faked or misinterpreted. We were taught to fear reading articles on evolution because we could be misled by Satan, so scientific illiteracy was the norm. Our everlasting life depended on our ignorance. Then they’d go with the standard absurd arguments that many groups seem to espouse:

- They believe we came from monkeys!
- There are no fossils of intermediary species.
- We couldn’t have just got here by chance.
- Watchmaker analogy

And more! :lol:



RetroGamer87
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18 Dec 2024, 7:09 pm

Jetso wrote:
Why is evolution so objected to while other forms of science don't get so questioned?

Medical science also gets objected too. Look at the antivaxxers.

I think some people and organisations think they can gain power by saying science is wrong about this or that.


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TwilightPrincess
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19 Dec 2024, 10:17 pm

^ I think that when people are taught and raised to believe that evolution isn’t real it makes them more likely to doubt, question, or be suspicious/wary of other branches of science and the evidence for it. For that reason, I suspect that pushing pure creationism promotes scientific illiteracy in a more general sense. It’s hard to really describe exactly what I mean, but it’s something I’ve observed a lot. There are antivaxxers in my family and in my former religious community. If people believe they know more than evolutionary biologists who devoted years of their lives to study and research, they might think they know more than doctors based on whatever absurd, anecdotal nonsense they’ve heard or read.

Of course, people buy into quackery for any number of reasons, but the rate of unscientific, nonsensical beliefs does seem to be especially high among fundamentalists.



lostonearth35
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20 Dec 2024, 2:58 pm

The Bible thumpers have the unshakable belief that the Earth was only created two or three thousand years ago and not millions of years ago, and that the first humans were Adam and Eve who were exactly like modern humans instead of evolving from early species of apes. They think the Bible is never wrong and to even question things about it is pure evil.

And evolution is not the only scientific thing they object to. There were antivaxxers during the covid pandemic that said "Jesus will protect me". JWs believe getting a blood transfusion is evil and would let their own children die than get one that could save their life. I'm a sinful heathen according to my own religion because I've eaten meat on Friday. Actually my mom is Catholic and my dad was Baptist, I think. My mother said the priest didn't want them to marry unless one of them converted to the same religion, but they did anyway. :)



Carbonhalo
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20 Dec 2024, 3:32 pm

If we're all descended from Adam and Eve, and there's no evolution, shouldn't we all be the same colour?



Harmonie
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20 Dec 2024, 11:21 pm

Carbonhalo wrote:
If we're all descended from Adam and Eve, and there's no evolution, shouldn't we all be the same colour?


Oh, you probably don't want to bark up that tree. I've heard some disturbing takes from some Evangelical leaders. From my understanding, the LDS also has a disturbing take, too. Deeply racist stuff. Ugh.


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Gentleman Argentum
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21 Dec 2024, 4:46 am

Jetso wrote:
Why is evolution so objected to while other forms of science don't get so questioned?


Evolution was a big issue back in my day growing up in the public school system. Some parents were against it and there were debates on the television.

I believe it is humiliating and threatening to the Ego to imagine our origin as single-celled organisms floating about in the muck. Or alternatively as chimpanzee-like creatures swinging from vine to vine.

However there is no contradiction between Christianity, Judaism & Islam with Evolution; the beliefs can and do coexist. There is nothing in the Bible says God did not use evolution as a process, and one God-year can be a billion man-years.

A humble attitude is demanded in the Bible, an acknowledgement that GOD reigns supreme. To limit GOD and say that GOD cannot use evolution, that would be heresy, because GOD can use any process at any time and the reasons may not be understood by ourselves, the creations. The one constant is there is no limit to GOD at all.

I always accepted Evolution and do not believe GOD is gentle with His creations. Death is a natural process in the physical world and it does have meaning and influence future outcomes. We don't like it and we don't like pain and suffering either, but that is part of the deal when your spirit emerges into the material plane. It is just the way the system works and we are learning more about it as we gain scientific knowledge. The physical world is a brutal place of suffering and misery, that is why many people blame GOD but it can also be a place of joy and bliss. Our time here is brief and we are to make of it what we can. The reasoning of GOD is seldom understood to his creations, it is alien and not in any way human, and to apply human concepts to GOD is always a stretch, the best we can say is GOD is Love, Loves Us and is All-powerful. Yet this does not preclude death, pain and suffering while we persist in this physical world. We will know more when we transition back to the spiritual realm which is, for all of us, in a very brief amount of time.

There is No Conflict between Science & Religion.


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ToughDiamond
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25 Dec 2024, 1:35 pm

Gentleman Argentum wrote:
There is No Conflict between Science & Religion.

I guess it depends how literally the religionist takes scripture. Certainly the Anglicans have very little problem with science and evidence-based history.

i think part of the problem is human pride. It's good for the ego to think that we're the centre of everything, separate and above the world of animals. Unfortunately the universe doesn't revolve round our planet, and we're just another life-form, another slave to another type of DNA.



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25 Dec 2024, 9:05 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
I don't get it, considering the alternative is humanity just popping into existence from nothing.
How about being created from a pile of dirt?  Is that any more elegant than having a common ancestor with apes?



Jetso
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26 Dec 2024, 9:12 am

Fnord wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
I don't get it, considering the alternative is humanity just popping into existence from nothing.
How about being created from a pile of dirt?  Is that any more elegant than having a common ancestor with apes?


Apparently we do come from dirt. The Bible leaves out the intermediate steps however.



MaxE
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26 Dec 2024, 9:19 am

Harmonie wrote:
Carbonhalo wrote:
If we're all descended from Adam and Eve, and there's no evolution, shouldn't we all be the same colour?


Oh, you probably don't want to bark up that tree. I've heard some disturbing takes from some Evangelical leaders. From my understanding, the LDS also has a disturbing take, too. Deeply racist stuff. Ugh.

In LDS scripture we're given to believe that God darkened the skin of the First Nations as a mark of shame. Insofar as Sub-Saharan Africans are even darker, for many decades they barred anyone with that ancestry from the priesthood which is fundamental to life as a Mormon.


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26 Dec 2024, 10:12 am

To deny evolution is to deny that man has ever existed or grown overtime......but still the Churches are what communities in the USA grew up under . And of course the Churches help spread the dialog about the concept of right and wrong for those early Americans . Snd behins civiling a place.But people evolve in their understanding of reality as evolution occurs .
But not all things evolve at the same rate . Using violence to settle disputes, depleted the Population. Strong arms and wills to cross the praries .In early times of the USA. . . . So these ideas are generationally entrenched .
But Science and truth want a stronger proof . So comes evolution......................................
.Thought Bubble:
( and just by the way,Yah,Alls are just a buncha Heretics ! ) j/k
And just what the hec' you think? , I started out as a amoeba or something..?


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ToughDiamond
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26 Dec 2024, 4:16 pm

Jetso wrote:
Fnord wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
I don't get it, considering the alternative is humanity just popping into existence from nothing.
How about being created from a pile of dirt?  Is that any more elegant than having a common ancestor with apes?


Apparently we do come from dirt. The Bible leaves out the intermediate steps however.

I guess the difference is that although both science and scripture agree we came from dirt or something very much like it, science has it that life is a (messy) accident, while scripture says it was all deliberately and immaculately planned out by the one supreme being. Not surprisingly, the scriptural version doesn't ultimately make intellectual sense, but scripture says that's because it's too clever for any mere human to understand, while (I think) the scientific explanation does ultimately make sense to anybody who does enough intellectual leg-work.