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Various religious views on evolution

Clara Tea

Well-Known Member
While I thank you for your answer, the quick development of things such as writing, languages, and electricity convinces me that the idea that humankind from Adam and Eve makes perfect, logical sense. I'm speaking specifically of mankind, not other types of life now.
It takes but one wrong step to place the entire edifice of knowledge on a shaky foundation.
 

YoursTrue

Faith-confidence in what we hope for (Hebrews 11)
It takes but one wrong step to place the entire edifice of knowledge on a shaky foundation.
One wrong step? How about a right step, calling in question the foundation laid by those who claim to know?
 

sayak83

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Just going back to Pluralism for a minute, anything and everything is ok, even if it disagrees with another religious concept, as long as ... ??
No coercive action by any group and no harm is being done to any person by the group.
 

PruePhillip

Well-Known Member
So if you're a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, or of another religious belief, what does your religion teach about evolution.

If you of the Abrahamic faith there is no reference to evolutio, anymore than there's reference to gravity.
However, Genesis 1 states how life formed on earth
1 - God commanded the earth to bring forth life
2 - God commanded the seas to bring forth life.

HOW this happened is not stated - I presume 'God's command' is nothing more than the laws of physics.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
So if you're a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, or of another religious belief, what does your religion teach about evolution.
As you ought to know by now, seeing as we have had innumerable threads on the subject, if you are Catholic or mainstream Protestant, the religion does not teach you anything about science one way or another, since that is not considered to be the job of religion. (You may possibly be taught that the order in nature can be seen as evidence of a Creator, but that's about it.)

If you ask a clergyman from one of these denominations, you will probably be told that there is no religious reason to doubt the theory of evolution.

What I would love to know, bearing in ind your own personal preoccupation with the topic of evolution, is why you think evolution, of all the theories of science, might be problematic to a Christian believer. Can you explain why you think it is so important?
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
So if you're a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, or of another religious belief, what does your religion teach about evolution.

In the Hindu tradition, I believe evolution is a very very old tradition. I mean like one of their oldest. But my knowledge on that is pretty limited.

in Islam it's a very open topic and has been discussed for a long long time. Way way before Darwin of course. In fact, some western scholars say that evolution was called the Muhammedan theory. Anyway, it was an old discussion prior to 1500 years of our time years. Or 700, 800, 900 years ago at least.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
In the Hindu tradition, I believe evolution is a very very old tradition. I mean like one of their oldest. But my knowledge on that is pretty limited.
In Hinduism it has been discussed for even a longer period, starting somewhere around 1,000 BCE with Nasadiya Sukta, which I have quoted in the forum many times ("The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?"). Then in Samkhya philosophy without a necessary requirement for existence of God and in the Hindu atomic theory of Kanada in Vaisheshika philosophy. Of course, Charvaks, Buddhism and Jainism added their own flavor. All before the Christian era.
 

wellwisher

Well-Known Member
The Bible speaks more in terms of the evolution of human consciousness, than about biological evolution. Biology is more concerned with the shell and bones of the body, than with the operating system of the human brain. You cannot get the operating system from bones or DNA, alone. How would you explain all the humans in earth, all with human DNA, not all being mentally uniform? Primate people have human DNA, so that alone is not enough information, since the mind also includes external sensory input that will occur apart from any DNA. The analogy is we can all buy the same computer, but it will change as we add software from outside venders.

The first successful and sustainable civilization would have been more related a new level of human consciousness and creativity, than to just to the shells of biology. In that sense modern human is not just about DNA, but also the point in time where a specific level of neural sophistication occurs needed to create and sustain the artificial environment connected to civilization. The timing of this conscious change, needed for civilization, is much more consistent with the biblical time scales of 6000 years, than with the 1.5 million year shell time scales of human DNA and biology. The atheists poisoned the well, while casino math and black box of statistics used by shell evolution, made it harder to reason away or filter out the poison.

The Genesis type theories of all the various religions were some of the first applications of this new human mind set. They attempted to explain the universe. This attempt was the key to change. When I was a child, Pluto was a planet. More recently its status changed. Pluto did not change. What changed was how consciousness wished to catalog it. The new ability to place reality into compartments began at the time of Genesis. Realty was always there, but the cataloging process began at that time.

Adam is formed from the dust of the earth and not by biological means. The early pre-humans were herders and knew about biological reproduction. Yet Adam, who symbolized a new mindset, was specifically formed, as not being based on biological reproduction, alone. The operating system of the brain is also a function of sensory input that has nothing to do with our specific DNA. It comes from all aspects of our inner and outer reality.

Adam evolved based on a tool and self reflection. The invention of written language coincides with the 6000 year bible estimate of the dawn of modern man. Adam was a new type of human who was not based on biology alone. He was impacted by this external invention; writing on stone tablets making stone dust as Adam learned to write and self reflect.

Unlike spoken language, which is often spontaneous and unconscious; mouth can work faster than the mind, written language is more deliberate and requires self reflection to organize and refine your ideas and then edit language. This type of mind set was far more advanced, and could not have occurred without than important invention from the Gods; creative forces. God forms Adam's new mind from the stone dust of the earth. In tradition, Adam was a mathematician and scientist; applied writing. Today, computers have changed the way humans react to sensory reality. Now many avoid natural for virtual. The impact is leading people more into their own minds.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil was about an application of the new invention. When right and wrong were written down, law came into the world. The problem was that law, written down and carved into stone, could not change on a dime; holy books, and would often became repressive leading to unconscious problems; repression, compulsions and suffering. Writing was positive force for science, engineering, religion and commerce all of which help sustain civilization. But law was too subjective and would lead to irrationality; Satan.

The ancient people of Genesis lived at that transitional time between natural and civilized. Their ability to observed and self reflect allowed them to see how the human mind changed and evolved. God was considered natural, while fallen man and Satan was more about artificial. These distinctions are less clear cut today, since all we ever knew was artificial. In that sense, ancient religious works connects us to the past and the future. Paradise is predicted to return, but with new sophistication.
 
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Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
In the Hindu tradition, I believe evolution is a very very old tradition. I mean like one of their oldest. But my knowledge on that is pretty limited.

in Islam it's a very open topic and has been discussed for a long long time. Way way before Darwin of course. In fact, some western scholars say that evolution was called the Muhammedan theory. Anyway, it was an old discussion prior to 1500 years of our time years. Or 700, 800, 900 years ago at least.
So, were there any suggestions forthcoming as to any useful mechanism for explaining evolution - like the Darwin one?
 

Colt

Well-Known Member
So if you're a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, or of another religious belief, what does your religion teach about evolution.
My theology is informed by the Urantia Book revelation which reveals that life on our world was created and fostered by the technique of evolution.
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
Currently, I see in Germany, but also in the United States, a somewhat fierce debate raging between so-called “creationism” and evolutionism, presented as though they were mutually exclusive alternatives: those who believe in the Creator would not be able to conceive of evolution, and those who instead support evolution would have to exclude God. This antithesis is absurd because, on the one hand, there are so many scientific proofs in favour of evolution which appears to be a reality we can see and which enriches our knowledge of life and being as such. But on the other, the doctrine of evolution does not answer every query, especially the great philosophical question: where does everything come from? And how did everything start which ultimately led to man? I believe this is of the utmost importance. (Benedict XVI)

Catholic schools in the United States and other countries teach evolution as part of their science curriculum. They teach that evolution occurs and the modern evolutionary synthesis, which is the scientific theory that explains how evolution proceeds. This is the same evolution curriculum that secular schools teach.
Evolution and The Catholic Church (slife.org)

Catholic are free to believe in the theory of evolution or not.
 

Fool

ALL in all
Premium Member
So if you're a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, or of another religious belief, what does your religion teach about evolution.
Religion isn't about an exact hard science. It's more along the lines of psychology and sociology, or mental - spiritual aspects of individuals and groups.

FYI, not everything is in a religious teachings. Case in point it usually doesn't teach culinary methods either.
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
In Hinduism it has been discussed for even a longer period, starting somewhere around 1,000 BCE with Nasadiya Sukta, which I have quoted in the forum many times ("The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?"). Then in Samkhya philosophy without a necessary requirement for existence of God and in the Hindu atomic theory of Kanada in Vaisheshika philosophy. Of course, Charvaks, Buddhism and Jainism added their own flavor. All before the Christian era.

True. Hindu books did speak of even the beginning of life.

But I am curious why you said "before the Christian Era" and why that matters to an atheist. And I would like to see what kind of manuscript dating there is in the Hindu books.

It's a good insight.
 
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