While watching a debate in Luneta (Rizal Park), two members of the Seventh Day Adventist approached me and asked me a question.

“Sir, are you an atheist?”

I answered back, “Yes I am”

“So.” He again replied back, “Do you believe in evolution?”

In a Yahoo chat room a Christian chatter asked me.

“So you’re an atheist. Do you believe in the Theory of Evolution?”

As I was checking the World Wide Web, I came into this site of a disgruntled Christian who was saying unkind remarks on the theory of evolution and its proponents, and accusing that this is atheism in disguise.

What’s with these Christian believers anyway? Every time they approached an atheist evolution automatically comes to their mind. Hmmmm… I think this is more of ignorance in their part than a sign of protest. In the first place atheism and the theory of evolution are two different subjects.

The Theory of Evolution is not atheism in disguise as some Christian normally believes. This theory is just a naturalistic explanation of how things evolve. It doesn’t say where life comes from, it just about how life on Earth develops.

Well we can divide people on two views, those who are interested in natural causes and those who prefer the supernatural. Evolution is an explanation without relying on supernatural causes. Maybe that’s why Christian believers get annoyed with it and to those people that use it as an alternative form of explanation. It is natural for those who believe in the supernatural to put God as the Intelligent Designer, without Him there is no purpose as they say.

Some believers can place the “ultimate” purpose in life with the Theory of Evolution. The Roman Catholic for example considered the Theory of Evolution as a serious hypothesis. On October 22, 1996, Pope John Paul II issued a statement to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in a document titled “Truth Cannot Contradict Truth”, the Pope defended both the evidence for evolution and the consequences of it on Catholic teaching. According to their belief, God has place the human soul on evolving life form. So the Roman Catholic Church is only against the naturalistic justification of evolution. They are in favor of the theistic explanation. So we can see that the Catholics are in favor of the theory to be studied and see how it will apply to their faith. In 1950, Pope Pius XII released an encyclical titled “Humani Generis” which focus on the serious study of Evolution. Here is a good sample of how theology has respected the realm of science. The magisterium of science which is the evolution of the human species is different from the infusion of the soul explained in the magisterium of religion.

For those who prefer the naturalistic views, everything have an explanation, they don’t rely on mysteries – “there are no mysteries, just hidden answers” – they always say. An atheist definitely relies of natural explanation. We are far behind the age of miracles and have entered a new realm of curiosity, observation, experimentation and creativity, God serves no purpose to create life.

An atheist’s views on the origin of life on Earth differ with each other. We don’t rely on a certain doctrine to be an atheist and The Theory of Evolution is not a doctrine. I heard some atheist believe that life on this planet came from an alien world, while others say that we were experiments of a highly evolved alien planet. Evolution is science my friends, it can be debated and it can be falsified. Evolution develops when new discoveries are bare. That’s what makes the Theory of Evolution beautiful. It never insisted to be true, but circumstances on this planet supported it. Maybe that’s why atheists are fond of it. The claim of evolution is testable and can be challenged. Now this is very unlikely to happen on the supernatural cause. Supernatural is faith-based belief, which relies too much with religion, and religious truth are suppose to be absolute.

Absolutism doesn’t make the mind to work hard. It leaves a wall in every question. Curiosity is likely to be discouraged.

The theory of evolution is quite tolerant with different belief because it doesn’t lay any standards. It doesn’t justify any religious belief. The setback on some certain Genesis is that you sometimes hurt those who are not included on your story, those who tell a different story. The Theory of Evolution doesn’t promote any divinity, the language is quite universal. You can loosely interpret it to fit your belief. Since the theory is scientific, it is neutral to the question of the existence of certain gods. Stephen Jay Gould even believes that Evolution and Christianity are compatible. Some proponents of this idea suggest that a compatibility of Christianity and Evolution can give us a better explanation of evil in this world. As a loving God created us, evolution’s engine our predatory and prey relationship to activate wars and strife. The problem is on the evangelical, fundamental Christians who insist that the biblical claim of Genesis is a factual truth. Most Bible thumpers insist their belief is true that’s why they get aggravated with the theory of evolution which disallows their God any part of the Creation process.

Until next time,

Paalam.

Pinoy Atheist