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Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?

Bathos Logos

Active Member
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?
I would reserve the use of the word "evil" for those things that are malicious or purposefully detrimental to humans with both forethought and intent. So, things like "parasites" would not qualify as "evil" - because their intent is only to find a cozy place to survive as they are able, and what they are doing is most certainly not "evil" from their perspective, if they could contemplate such things. Things like tsunamis or earthquakes would not qualify either, because there is neither forethought nor intent.

As for the case of evolution being the cause of some evil in the world, I can't completely discount this possibility, however I can tell from the tone of your OP that you aren't going to like the reason I might accept it. Humans are one of the only things on Earth that can perpetrate "evil" if you take into account forethought and intent. And therefore, evolution could very well be at the root of some of the "evil" that human beings perpetrate on one another specifically because we are a product of evolution. And so, any predispositions or instincts we have that might see us committing what we collectively deem "evil" if we let those impulses rule unchecked could have "evolution" as the reason those things exist in our psychology/psyche/makeup.

Creation and Intelligent Design accept that an Intelligent Agent or Intelligent Designer (IDer) exist who had commanded us to love each other. Love means to let other people live happily, even though you may sacrifice. John 3:16
And even though this command would supposedly exist if we accepted a particular God as this "creator" who is said to have made such a command, what do we see? There still exists what we'd call "evil", right? So, if evolution is completely false (for the sake of argument), then where is this "evil" coming from? If you don't believe in evolution at all, then you literally cannot blame any evil committed on it! That wouldn't make any sense. It would be like me, an atheist, blaming God for the fact that my car didn't start this morning! I don't believe in God... so how can I attribute Him with blame for anything?!

But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love. Then hate and anger would be the norm.
This most certainly does not follow. Even if Intelligent Design is correct, these things "hate" and "anger" still exist. And you just stating that "without Intelligent Design there is no such thing as love" doesn't make that true by any stretch of the imagination. That is just a claim stated with zero supporting evidence. If evolution is the true means by which all the life on Earth diversified, then why does that make "hate" and "anger" the norm? You haven't provided any supporting evidence for this notion either. And so, currently, you have just said some stuff - and not very intelligent stuff, I feel compelled to add.

Thus, let us get rid of Evolution, as one sources of evil.
How can you get rid of it if it is the true method by which the life on Earth has diversified from whatever beginnings it had? I feel it pertinent to inform you that there is a whopping crapload more evidence for evolution than there is for all of these various species of flora and fauna having been crafted by some "creator". There is just no comparison to be made between the amount and forms of evidence, honestly. Intelligent Design has as its evidence some of the crappiest articles ever having been presented as support for anything. In fact, most of what I have seen is nothing more than attempts to discredit evolution - which is not, by any stretch of the imagination, evidence for Intelligent Design. A lot of theists who support ID don't tend to understand this distinction - or, if they do, they pretend to be ignorant of it and just keep spouting nonsense against evolution anyway. At least in my experience.
 
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ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?

The problems are caused by humanity, often by government, often by religion, often by ignorance . Who have one thing in common, we all evolved.

Was evolution the cause, no, people are the cause
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Let's get rid of science entirely and go back to living in caves. Actually that's too modern. Let's go back to not being humans any longer and turn back into single celled organisms. Actually since planets evolve in a sense, let's go back to the time when creation did not exist because evolution was part of creation.
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?
You mean is the acceptance of evolution as the fact of how we were created, the cause of all evils? Well, considering that the scientific theory of evolution wasn't brought to light until the mid 1800's, you'd have some explaining to do for the evil in the world that existed before then! I'm pretty sure no one in the Roman Empire was an evolutionist, yet the Bible speaks of the evil of Rome quite a lot. How do you explain that?

Furthermore, most people are actually ignorant what that ToE teaches, take yourself for instance. Yet, they are plenty evil while believing vehemently that their idea of God alone is the only right one. So, I'd say its really how strongly someone believes they are right and everyone else is wrong that is far more a source of evil than accepting credible science about the natural world causes.

Creation and Intelligent Design accept that an Intelligent Agent or Intelligent Designer (IDer) exist who had commanded us to love each other.
And yet how many of them actually do that? I'd say that percentage is in the low single digits.

Love means to let other people live happily, even though you may sacrifice. John 3:16
Tell that to the vast majority of Evangelicals who push their way into politics in order to impose their lifestyles upon everyone else, under penalty of law.

But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love.
Wrong. Not everyone is like you who thinks that because evolution is factually true as borne out by the science, believes that there is no God, or that Love is Truth of all that is. You should say, "to me, if evolution is true, then God doesn't exist". And to that I would say, well, that's your problem. You should look at why you can't fit God into evolution like others can. Isn't your faith large enough to change the way you think about these things?

Thus, let us get rid of Evolution, as one sources of evil.
I'd say inflexible religious beliefs have caused far more evil in the world, than accepting credible science does. Do you see the fall of civilization because we no longer believe the sun orbits the earth? Of course not, and those like you who worried it would if we accepted that science, were clearly misguided in their thinking and religious ideas.
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?

Creation and Intelligent Design accept that an Intelligent Agent or Intelligent Designer (IDer) exist who had commanded us to love each other. Love means to let other people live happily, even though you may sacrifice. John 3:16

But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love. Then hate and anger would be the norm. From these, evils will come like Hell. Save us!

Thus, let us get rid of Evolution, as one sources of evil.

P1 - God commanded love through ID
P2 - Evolution negates ID
P3 - If ID is false, Love does not exist.
Q - No ID = No love = Evolution is evil

That's basically your argument. Correct?

If you zoom out a little, you are committing not one, but several fallacies. First, you are assuming God commanded love through ID, and that God exists by default (which you should say up front that this is methodological). This is called petitio principii by definition. All your premises are false or/and without justification. Each premise is a fallacy by itself assuming the antecedent. Each premise has assertions which are to be justified which is assumed to be justified by you.

I am amazed at the level of someone who does online debates, though it's with another person who is famous but is absolutely a script reader not having any logical thought. ;) This argument is not valid brother. Cheers.
 

Bathos Logos

Active Member
It's more like someone throwing a large piece of meat into an area with a ravenous group of predators just waiting for something to pounce on. ;):D
So that's how people who attempt to correct other people's misconceptions about the world are viewed then? This explains so much.
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
No. Evolution is adaptation to an environment.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with human standards of morality

Brother. In the topic of morality, there are lots of studies on evolution. Even Michael Ruse said that morality is an illusion in us as groups, a bi product or an unexpected outcome of our genes. Things like our innate nature has been given an adaptive explanation in genetic terms is actual scientific endeavours.
 

Audie

Veteran Member
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?

Creation and Intelligent Design accept that an Intelligent Agent or Intelligent Designer (IDer) exist who had commanded us to love each other. Love means to let other people live happily, even though you may sacrifice. John 3:16

But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love. Then hate and anger would be the norm. From these, evils will come like Hell. Save us!

Thus, let us get rid of Evolution, as one sources of evil.

It's indirectly the cause No evolution= no life= no evil.

Creation and intelligent design are
incapable of doing anything though
believers in same can.
You are wrong though that they " accept,".
Choosing to beieve with no evidence is not the same as accepting.

You religionists provide all the hate and anger we need, and enough confusion and ignorance to satisfy anyone.
Are you going to propose ee get rid of religion?
That is at least possible.
To end evolution you'd have to sterilize the universe of all life.

Your proposal is about as evil as it gets.
 

F1fan

Veteran Member
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?
Well the human brain did evolve a more capable neocortex, which allowed our species to reason abstractly. Unfortunately our primitive brain (the limbic system) is still intact, and this fear response mechanism causes us serious conflicts in how we feel versus how we think. Feelings are easier for us to experience and without learning discipline, which is very difficult, we will become more likely to respond and react to feelings rather than what our rational mind observes and processes. Those who have more learned discipline will be better equip to manage their emotions, and tend to be less likely to make poor decisions and have false beliefs.

So it's not much evolution is to blame, but the laziness of people in various societies. The more educated a person is the less likely they are to be religious. Ignorance is tied to laziness, and laziness is tied to poor decision making.

Creation and Intelligent Design accept that an Intelligent Agent or Intelligent Designer (IDer) exist who had commanded us to love each other. Love means to let other people live happily, even though you may sacrifice. John 3:16
But these folks are intellectually lazy, and their beliefs are shown to be in error. they have failed into an emotional social trap and aren't capable of seeing the trap.

But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love. Then hate and anger would be the norm. From these, evils will come like Hell. Save us!
ID people exist regardless. It's just that they are not rational thinkers, and have adopted a religious view that is contrary to fact.

Thus, let us get rid of Evolution, as one sources of evil.
We can't get rid of evolution. It is a real, natural phenomenon. To eliminate it from education and intellectual life would be a disaster for science, medicine, and health. Is that love? No. That is a hell that some Christian extremists want because they haven't the mental discipline to self-examine their motives to believe in false concepts.
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Maybe a chant will help:

Ban Evolution! Ban Gravity!

Ban Evolution! Ban Gravity!


Did you know that without gravity we could not do GPS? That means that gravity put all sorts of map publishers out of business! Oooh. This topic can get me so mad. I used to love my Thomas Guides.
I think you're onto something here. If we didn't accept that Satanic theory of gravity, we'd have flying cars by now! But no, we are stuck on the ground instead! Damn atheists!
 

BrightShadow

Active Member
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?

Creation and Intelligent Design accept that an Intelligent Agent or Intelligent Designer (IDer) exist who had commanded us to love each other. Love means to let other people live happily, even though you may sacrifice. John 3:16

But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love. Then hate and anger would be the norm. From these, evils will come like Hell. Save us!

Thus, let us get rid of Evolution, as one sources of evil.


Who created IDer? In the absence of IDer - who created hate and anger? Who created evil?
 

Alien826

No religious beliefs
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?

Creation and Intelligent Design accept that an Intelligent Agent or Intelligent Designer (IDer) exist who had commanded us to love each other. Love means to let other people live happily, even though you may sacrifice. John 3:16

OK. Though that excludes everyone who accepts the Theory of Evolution and still believes in God in some form or another.

But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love. Then hate and anger would be the norm. From these, evils will come like Hell. Save us!

That's one train of thought. But, I don't see how the world would be any different if the ToE was shown to be false. It is how it is. The conflict between ID and the ToE is essentially about HOW the animal world came to be as it is. It either evolved through natural processes or it was created (somewhat) in its current form by a "designer" that we typically call God.

A question for you though. If the ToE is correct, the "evil*" came about through a natural process. With a creator, it came about DELIBERATELY! Which do you prefer?

* What many have already said, but bears repeating, is that all the violence and cruelty of the natural world is not "evil" in any general sense. All of it, including most of our actions in the world, is simply species adapting to the environment and finding ways to feed themselves, shelter, and so on. A lion doesn't "hate" a Zebra. It's just a potential meal. Dung beetles don't find feces disgusting. It's a useful source of food for its offspring. Humans have invented the idea of "enjoying" hunting, torture and so on. Humans, though possessing the ability to relate to the suffering of others, still continue with actions that hurt others. That's evil.
 

SkepticThinker

Veteran Member
Is Evolution the cause of all evils that we are witnessing in the world?

Creation and Intelligent Design accept that an Intelligent Agent or Intelligent Designer (IDer) exist who had commanded us to love each other. Love means to let other people live happily, even though you may sacrifice. John 3:16

But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love. Then hate and anger would be the norm. From these, evils will come like Hell. Save us!

Thus, let us get rid of Evolution, as one sources of evil.
I can't make any sense of this.
What does "IDER does not exist, so is love" mean?
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
But if Evolution is correct, therefore, IDer does not exist, so is love. Then hate and anger would be the norm. From these, evils will come like Hell. Save us!
This doesn't follow. Explain, please.
Thus, let us get rid of Evolution, as one sources of evil.
How do we 'get rid of' evolution?
Change happens. How do we stop change? How do we cancel past change?
 
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