Can religion and evolution coexist?

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Religion supports the theory of Creation that God created Man and everything that is good; but after the fall: came Decay, Suffering, and Death. Evolution, on the other hand, says that it was Man who created God and that by changeability and death, Man came into the world. The Theory of Evolution is an antithesis of religion. Religion is entirely the opposite of evolution. Is it possible for religion and evolution to exist in mutual tolerance despite different ideologies or interests?

The Theory of Evolution

First introduced in Charles Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species” in 1859, evolution is the process by which organisms transformed during the passage of time its inborn physical or behavioral characteristics. These changes allow an organism to become better adapted to its environment that helps in its survival and reproduction. The premise of natural selection is supported by evidence from the wide scientific disciplines of developmental biology, genetics, geology and paleontology.

The Theory of Creation

Religion espouses the Creation Theory that men, as well as the rest of the natural world, were made from nothing by a Creator. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, relates the story of God creating the world and the first humans within seven days. It is important to understand that Biblical creationism is not the only theory of creation, there are other theories but all concluded that a Supreme Being created the universe and life.

Religion versus Evolution

Darwin’s evolution is different from Religion’s Creation. Evolution is based on data while religion is based on belief.

  1. As a science, evolution Darwinism explanation uses scientific methodology the changes in living things during the history of life on earth. It explains the commonality of living things with their ancestors and overtime evolutionary changes give rise to new species.
  2. Religion, on the other hand, derives the idea of creation from the conviction of Abrahamic religions that God created the universe-including humans and other living things-all at once in the relatively recent past.
  3. Evolutionist claimed that a single-celled organism evolved into more complex plants and animals, finally evolving into Homo sapiens.
  4. Religion advocated that organisms were created distinct and separate from each other and not from a single-celled organism that evolved into more complex plants and animals, finally evolving into man.
  5. Creationists are using scientific evidence in supporting their argument that Darwinism cannot be proven scientifically based on the fact that Darwinism goes against creationism. It is searching for scientific evidence and now crossing the boundaries between religion and science.
  6. Scientists are going against the Bible. Therefore, scientists are also crossing the boundary.

Religion can co-exist with evolution

Even the world’s greatest minds, like Albert Einstein, were convinced that an intelligent life is behind the universe. Today, many scientists, except probably the atheists, believe that there is no conflict between their faith and their work.

It was Darwin’s evolution that made religion and science irreconcilable when he explained that the myriad of lower species inhabiting Earth by process of evolution became the common ancestors. What if God used evolution as His tool? Darwin never said anything about God. In fact, many scientists and theologians accept that it is not against reason to think that a Divine Being used evolution as a method to create the world.

According to science, the universe was actually formed about 13.7 billion years ago, while the Earth was formed around 4.5 billion years ago. The first humans date back only a hundred thousand years or so.

Scientists of faith read the Bible but admonished that it should not be taken literally. God created the world in six days but the days might have been eons?

There is no argument against this claim.

There is no way to prove religion scientifically for I is based on faith and faith is abstract. But it is more logical to envision a universe created by God from one that is not. There’s no way that science can even rule out religion, or about the abstract idea of a divine creator.

Science and religion operate in different realms. Science answers the ‘“how? But only religion can answer the Why?

But there is no clean separation between science (evolution) and religion. They stand side by side in their own realm. Some scientific work, including hot topics as stem cell research, always considers moral and religious implications.

To paraphrase Albert Einstein’s statement: Science without religion cannot walk and religion without science cannot see.

As confusing and far-advanced our world is in technology, ‘“ it is a fact that evolution and religion can co-exist.

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