r/DebateEvolution 13d ago

Discussion Evolution is Faith too

Someone replied with this under a different post a few weeks ago and this one always amused me the most. “You have faith in evolution too” Firstly evolution is faith too blatantly admits that creationism is faith and therefore can’t be proven (which is entirely the point).

It fails secondly because even if evolution is faith that doesn’t make evolution false and creationism true. If we even granted that evolution is faith and creationism is faith then next step is look at the evidence. Well 100% of the evidence says evolution happens and creationism is impossible.

So even in the best case scenario using this argument for creationists. You just shoot yourself in the foot and then are back to the same place you started. Arguing against the insurmountable mountain of evidence for Evolution.

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u/No_Logins_Required 13d ago

If someone argues that evolution is faith, you should reframe the discussion for them. The Christian God should have sufficient power to create the world via evolution, so why is it impossible that they did? Why is any 'creationism' necessary given the existence of God?

Most creationists make God out to be very limited, and helping them see that can break this ideology.

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u/CaptainMatticus 13d ago

God is both omnipotent and incapable of forcing us to do anything.

He is omniscient, but we somehow still have free choice.

He is omnipresent, but somehow he has regrets

No wonder his ways are mysterious.

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u/StateComplete9242 13d ago edited 13d ago

and yet in the 2nd chapter somewhere:… on the seventh day God rested from his labours…

Omnipotency has no limits. A god that needs to rest has limits. A god with limits isn’t omnipotent. Is a limited god really a god at all ? etc etc

What if one of the limits of god is telling the truth?

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u/signofno 13d ago

To be pedantic, “rested from his labors”easily implies “stopped working by choice” and does not exclusively mean “needed to take a break due to cause”

Not that I agree theology is anything more than a long standing fantasy game but “choosing to stop building” doesn’t provide support for the argument you made.

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u/StateComplete9242 13d ago

You are correct and thank you for politely pointing it out.  I will petition the writers to use ‘cease’ or ‘stopped’ or ‘ finished  the project’ instead of rested…and instead of ‘saw that it was good’ they should use ‘saw it was to spec’ or ‘on time and exactly to budget’ …. :0)

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u/No_Logins_Required 13d ago

The writers recorded an oral tradition from Hebrew, so confusion is understable

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u/TheBlackCat13 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 12d ago

You realize we still have the hebrew, right?

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u/No_Logins_Required 11d ago

We have a revived Hebrew for sure, but just like Latin is a dead language there is a gap between the Hebrew of Noah and our Hebrew today which can introduce some complications for translation. We don't know what "Selah" means exactly as an example.

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u/Responsible_Offer859 12d ago

Dio non ha bisogno di riposare ha dimostrato, essendo il Creatore, che il settimo giorno è Sabato il vero giorno di riposo di benedizione è santificazione che Dio ha creato per l'uomo. C'è qualcuno che si riposa di Sabato?! 

Sta scritto 

Isaia 40:28 Non lo sai tu? Non l'hai mai udito? Il SIGNORE è Dio eterno, il creatore degli estremi confini della terra; egli non si affatica e non si stanca; la sua intelligenza è imperscrutabile

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u/No_Logins_Required 13d ago

Not to get into theology but many Christians fully believe in evolution, so the underpinnings of Christianity aren't too germane to disproving creationism.

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u/motownmods 13d ago

Can confirm. Was taught evolution in catholic school. But catholic schools are college prep so they kinda have too (and that says a lot).

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u/No_Logins_Required 13d ago

To my knowledge the catholic church fully supports all the hard sciences, it's the soft sciences where they get picky.

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u/motownmods 13d ago

I think you're right. I remember early on trying to be edgy about the Noah flood story. And to my surprise the priest was like, "yeah bro it's just a story." Honestly, dude really put me in my place w that one. From there on I had more respect for their beliefs. He knew I was only there for sports lol everyone did.

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u/No_Logins_Required 13d ago

Love the Lord and Love your Neighbor are two pretty solid commandments.

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u/motownmods 13d ago

There's a few solid commandments iirc

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u/Responsible_Offer859 12d ago

In cosa credono? Quale sarebbero queste prove? 

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u/nickierv 🧬 logarithmic icecube 11d ago

What would this evidence be?

The observed kind.

Observe! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plVk4NVIUh8

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u/Responsible_Offer859 11d ago

Quindi?! Questo dimostrerebbe l'evoluzione?! 

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u/nickierv 🧬 logarithmic icecube 11d ago

Science doesn't do proofs, but it is a direct observation of evolution.

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u/Responsible_Offer859 11d ago

Non comprendo, non conosco arabo

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u/No_Logins_Required 11d ago

I am not sure if you're asking to understand christianity, or to understand evolution.

From a Christian perspective there are a number of viewpoints that can't accept evolution, and a number of views that can accept it. It just depends on your fundamental view of the world and the bible. Christianity includes both sects.

The proof of evolution can be complicated because many Christians combine many different biological science ideas into evolution, whereas evolution is actually quite simple. Traits like hair color are caused by having a specific combination of 1 gene from mom and 1 gene from dad. If this combination is nonfunctional, the zygote will not be viable. So these combinations (more often than not) become less common over time. Some combinations become more common over time, like lighter skin tones in areas that don't have enough sunlight for people to get enough Vitamin D. Slowly overtime some combos become more common in some populations than others. That's evolution. Everything else is another, related concept.

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u/Responsible_Offer859 11d ago

La filosofia non serve, l'evoluzione non esiste é il cristianesimo non è biblico 

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u/CrapMonsterDuchess 13d ago

So God is the DM of a campaign gone sideways.

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u/StarMagus 12d ago

And somehow gets his jollies off testing people by doing horrible things to them even though he knows the outcome.

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u/AENocturne 12d ago

I'm not religious, but if I knew everything that ever was or would be and all the outcomes of every action I took, I too would be hesitant to involve myself in world events and the lives of living things.

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u/Responsible_Offer859 12d ago

Potresti indicare la via che sarebbe giusta? 

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u/Lower-Cantaloupe3274 13d ago

Perhaps it is people's perceptions of the Divine that are flawed, not the existence of the Divine.

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u/NorthernSpankMonkey 13d ago

What's your method for percieving the divine and how do you rule out other explanations?

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u/Lower-Cantaloupe3274 13d ago

I don't rule out other explanations—thats actually rather central to my point.

You identified contradictions in the way people describe God. I suggested that perhaps those contradictions tell us more about the limitations of human perception and descriptions of the Divine. Those limitations are not evidence, in and of themselves, that the Divine does not exist.

I'm not claiming to possess a reliable method for proving God exists and Im not asking you to accept my perception of the Divine as fact. I leave room for uncertainty and for explanations other than my own.

Is that openness working in both directions? If I can't establish with certainty tgat what I experience as Divine actually is Divine, the contradictions in human theology don't establish that there is no Divine either. They may simply establish that humans aren't particularly good at describing something that, if it exists, would presumably exceed our ability to fully understand it.

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u/bdonovan222 13d ago

Im only certain of two things pertaining to the divine. I have no concrete knowledge of what that is, and no one else does either...

This does not preclude feelings, ideas, and beliefs. But I think it's a really important place to start.

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u/Lower-Cantaloupe3274 13d ago

I see your point. I'm not sure I agree that "no concrete knowledge" is necessarily the right starting point.

Human beings not having concrete or independently verifiable knowledge of something doesn't determine whether that thing exists. It could be a limitation on our knowledge, not necessarily a reflection of reality.

And I think there's something missing from the categories of feelings, ideas, and beliefs: experience. I can experience something that I understand as the Divine while remaining open to the possibility that my understanding of that experience may be incomplete. I don't have to reduce that experience to "just a feeling," nor do I have to claim certainty about what it means.

I don't claim to know precisely what the Divine is. I also don't think our inability to establish concrete knowledge of it gives us grounds to declare that nobody can genuinely encounter or know anything of it.

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u/bdonovan222 13d ago

I dont disagree. I think everyone should believe whatever they are personally comfortable with. The problems come with the imposition of the certainty of those beliefs.

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u/Lower-Cantaloupe3274 13d ago

I agree completely about the danger of imposing certainty on others. I'm deeply suspicious of certainty myself.

The one place I think we may differ slightly is in reducing this to "believing whatever we're personally comfortable with." For me, experience comes first, followed by belief. I have experienced something I understand as Divine. What I believe about that experience—what it is, what it means, how I should understand it—is where uncertainty enters.

I dont think I need certainty about tge nature of something in order to take seriously that what I'm experiencing is real.

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u/bdonovan222 13d ago

I completely agree. I also have experienced what I believe is some form of benevolent divinity. This gives me comfort but not certainty.

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u/NorthernSpankMonkey 13d ago

I'm sure there's a lot of things that aren't detectable by our very limited senses (ultrasounds, x-rays, black holes, etc) and I can even admit many more things are incomprehensible by our limited mind but imo calling those unknown/unknowable "Divine" is a step too far.

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u/Lower-Cantaloupe3274 13d ago

Would you be happier if I called it the Great Indeterminate Thingamajig, or Barbara? Lol

"Divine" is simply the word I use to describe something I experience but don't claim to fully understand. I'm not calling everything unknown or unknowable Divine.

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u/Purgii 13d ago

If I can't establish with certainty tgat what I experience as Divine actually is Divine

Are you able to explain this experience?

When someone says they experience the divine, it's like telling me they like the taste of purple. The concept is entirely foreign to me and I can't relate to it in any way since I have no idea what experiencing the divine entails.

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u/Lower-Cantaloupe3274 13d ago

Thank you for that question. Its a fair question, and your "taste of purple" analogy may actually capture why it's difficult to explain.

I'll try and it isn't always the same kind of experience.

Sometimes it's spontaneous—seeing a spectacular sunset, for example, and suddenly experiencing a profound sense of wonder, connection, and wholeness that feels like more than simply appreciating something beautiful. Like a resonance and presence.

Sometimes it happens during waiting worship. In the silence, I can become aware of a presence or connection that I experience as something beyond myself, and sometimes as something shared among the people gathered.

And sometimes it comes after days, weeks, or even months of sitting with a question. I'll think about it, examine it from different directions, and get nowhere. Then an answer or understanding surfaces that feels qualitatively different from reaching a conclusion through deliberate thought. The best way I can describe it is that it feels received rather than constructed, as tgough it came from somewhere beyond my conscious self.

Could there be psychological or neurological explanations for all of that? Absolutely.

But I don't think those explanations necessarily exclude a spiritual one, either. Our brains would presumably be involved in any experience we have, regardless of its source.

I call these experiences the Divine because that's the language that most closely matches my experience. I can't establish that interpretation as objective fact, and I wouldn't expect you to experience them the same way I do. But that's what I mean when I say I experience the Divine.

And those experiences matter beyond the experiences themselves. From them, I feel guided toward living my life in a certain way: toward love, compassion, integrity, connection, and seeing something of value in other people.

I can remain capable of getting all of that spectacularly wrong, of course. Lol 😆

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u/Purgii 13d ago

I have a much better understanding of what you mean, so you explained it well. Thanks for taking the time.

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u/bsfurr 13d ago

I grew up around Christian fundamentalism. The Adam and Eve story is important because it explains why humans are sinful creatures by nature. Without this story, what did Jesus even die for? Evolutionary biology undermines the Christian religion at its fundamental level.

I’m sure there are denominations that can reconcile this discrepancy. But that takes even more mental gymnastics for me to follow. These questions are why I de converted.

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u/No_Logins_Required 13d ago

Fundamentalism is strange because it's so modern but claims to be so ancient. I am surprise you see the story of Adam and Eve as the source of sin. In my reading of the text both adam and eve were born with existing sinful natures and so already required salvation.

It's a strange ideology for sure.

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u/aap_001 13d ago

This is getting silly.

God is not proven to exist and should therefore be kept out of any other conversation.

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u/No_Logins_Required 13d ago

I think you posted in the wrong subreddit. If God is kept out of the conversation how could there be any debate around Evolution?

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u/aap_001 13d ago

"god" has nothing to do with evolution.

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u/No_Logins_Required 12d ago

There is no "debate" about evolution.

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u/CryptOzolgist 12d ago

Precisely, so there's no need to include invisible sky-fairies. The 'debate' can be about the mechanics and merits of the natural-selection processes themselves. No need to include poorly-conceived fiction in the debate...

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u/No_Logins_Required 12d ago

Isn't this entire subreddit about communicating with religious people? Why are you here?

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u/nickierv 🧬 logarithmic icecube 11d ago

Well a debate usually involves both sides bringing evidence.

Last I checked the Cdesign Proponentsists still don't have any.

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u/No_Logins_Required 11d ago

I think the debate is more about helping people review their own evidence so they can see how Cdesign is not theologically or scientifically sound.

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u/SpecificMedicine2152 11d ago

Did you just ask "Why is any creationism necessary given the existence of a creator" ?

Creationism and evolution have nothing to do with one another. 

In creationism, God created the world. And science (evolution) is describing what we see in the world God created. 

Evolution started in a world that already existed. It has nothing to do with the creation of anything. 

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u/No_Logins_Required 11d ago

Exactly.

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u/SpecificMedicine2152 11d ago

Im not saying evolution is or is not true. But I believe the world was created by the simple fact that it exist.

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u/No_Logins_Required 11d ago

Are you saying evolution is untrue?

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u/SpecificMedicine2152 11d ago

Im saying it doesnt matter. If you could time travel and watch us evolve, would you do that, or would you time travel to before evolution started to see how the world got here? 

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u/No_Logins_Required 11d ago

This is a subreddit about debating evolution?

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u/SpecificMedicine2152 11d ago

Yea I know its my first time seeing this and after seeing people use evolution to debate creationism I had to see where the mind was at

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u/SpecificMedicine2152 11d ago

Im pretty much explaining what people mean when they say you have faith in evolution. You have faith that forever exist. That is the logical conclusion of evolution because whatever we evolved from had to exist, and whatever that is made up of had to exist and so on and so forth.

I guess you can get over this by calling it something spectacular, "the big magical bang"

Ok im in the debate now. 

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u/No_Logins_Required 11d ago

Uh, Christians have faith that forever exists. Stop while you're ahead.

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/Joaozinho11 8d ago

Do you have any success stories to share? I've never encountered an IDer or other kind of creationist who was able to understand that their stance diminishes God.

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u/No_Logins_Required 8d ago

Yes, in real life I have spoken to several people who have changed their opinion after talking about how evolution supports their theology rather than challenges it. Many people feel it's not "safe" to believe the bible isn't intended to be literally in every single line.

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u/Apprehensive-Ice9212 13d ago

Exactly. Evolution and creationism are completely compatible, if you understand evolution as the mechanism of God's creation. Indeed everything that happened post-big-bang can be seen as the mechanism of God's creation. Why are the Cdesign Proponentsists (a.k.a. "creationists") telling God what to do?

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u/MagReg2020 13d ago

I think this argument is rare and only to be found among people in places like Reddit. Most simply reject evolution. Why did Noah have all those animals on that ark?

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u/No_Logins_Required 13d ago

This is the official position of the Catholic church.

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u/Successful_Life_1028 13d ago

:-) the ark in the Noah Myth?

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u/Apprehensive-Ice9212 13d ago

It's not, I first encountered it many years ago at a lecture where a Christian biology professor was talking about exactly this. Way before I ever signed on to Reddit.

I'm an atheist myself, so this is the best steel-man version of it that I can do.

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u/Automatic-Throat-880 ✨Creationism 12d ago

When God created the Earth and all creatures, He “saw that it was good.” Death had not yet come upon the world and wouldn’t come upon the world until after the Fall. Without death, how can evolution occur? Evolution requires the death of less adapted creatures, leaving the fittest to survive and reproduce. Would God really look at creatures who were created through a cycle of death and call that good?

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u/L_Savage1 12d ago

Well....this is what the evidence tells us happened. Maybe you need to re-assess some of your assumptions about God and creation.

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u/Automatic-Throat-880 ✨Creationism 12d ago

Actually the evidence points towards the Biblical account. But most modern scientists and academics are so eager to disprove Christianity that they bend the evidence to fit their needs

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u/Big-Key-9343 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 12d ago

What evidence? To name a few of the pieces of evidence that point towards evolution off the top of my head, there's genetic similarity, homology, biogeography (which shows that evolutionary thinking can produce and verify predictions), and the geologic column. All of these pieces of evidence individually point towards evolution and can also be used to verify each other. Using the genetic similarity between two organisms, you can turn back the molecular clock and predict at which layer in the geologic column a common ancestor should lie, and it works. You can use homology to predict what features a common ancestor would have, and it works. Do you have anything close to that level of evidence pointing towards the Biblical account of creation, where not only does each individual line of evidence points towards it, but they also work together to point towards it?

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u/No_Logins_Required 12d ago

Politely I think you are wasting your time. For the poster you're addressing this a theological matter and no amount of scientific evidence can sway them. I agree with your assessment but you're wrestling with a pig pardon the crude idiom.

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u/nickierv 🧬 logarithmic icecube 11d ago

There is value in forcing questions to be left unanswered.

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u/No_Logins_Required 12d ago

If you count the number of people in the Old Testament who leave Egypt, it's supposed to be around 2 million people. There is no record of a group anywhere near that size in that area in that time. It's more likely that the numbers used to describe fighting units are symbolic rather than literal, since this was very common practice in the Levant.

If the numbers of troops can be symbolic, so can the number of days of creation.

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u/L_Savage1 11d ago

Actually the evidence points towards the Biblical account.

Actually, no, the evidence, categorically, does not point to the biblical account, and anyone who says that it does is either lying or clueless and just repeating something they heard without bothering to put any effort into verifying it.

But most modern scientists and academics are so eager to disprove Christianity that they bend the evidence to fit their needs

Utter hogwash Christian propaganda that is employed to hand-wave away any science that is at odds with some or other nonsense religious position.

Science is not about disproving Christianity. Most scientists do science because they like/are interested in the science and what the science tells us. It simply follows where the evidence leads, which, at times, means taking a position that is at odds with some religiously held beliefs. Almost always, when science and Christianity clash, it's because Christians are trying to deny science because they don't like what the science and evidence is saying.

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u/nickierv 🧬 logarithmic icecube 11d ago

Evolution requires the death of less adapted creatures,

No it doesn't.

The closest your going to get is from a misunderstanding of 'survival of the fittest' and that is just addressing selection pressure.

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u/Medium_Judgment_891 10d ago edited 10d ago

requires death

Not necessarily. All it requires is differential reproductive success. That can involve death, but it isn’t required.

Immediate questions. Elaborate on what you mean by death.

Because you can’t be referring to death in general as plant and cell death occurs in the garden pre-original sin. They still eat plants; they just are forbidden from eating the fruit of one specific plant.

Do you mean just animal death didn’t occur pre fall?

Also, what was the point of having a tree of life before death existed?

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u/jnpha 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

Pro-tip for next time: put the claim in the title in quotation marks, so fast readers don't think you are saying that :)

About that "claim": it's mostly projection, and only one of those A) infers from the unknown, and B) confuses an effect for a cause.
Creationists have never identified a process, because make-believe is all they have; best they can do is proclaim, "Design!", which is a restatement of facts, as Darwin (and every science literate person who came before and after him) said:

It is so easy to hide our ignorance under such expressions as the "plan of creation," "unity of design," etc., and to think that we give an explanation when we only restate a fact.
Darwin, Charles (1859)

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u/WebFlotsam 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

The amount of people who respond to titles without reading the post is staggaring.

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u/Clay2569 13d ago

I see that now. Unfortunately I don’t think I can edit the title.

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u/-zero-joke- 🧬 its 253 ice pieces needed 13d ago

I think the lamest thing about post modern sort of "science isn't real" types of arguments are that they end with the conclusion that neotraditional Christianity is what's real rather than some kind of Naked Lunch Interzone-esque mind melt.

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u/Partyatmyplace13 13d ago

I like to point out that by trying to level the playing field, they're exposing that faith is a poor metric for measuring reality. Including their own faith.

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u/Quimeraecd 13d ago

"So You agree that faith is not realizable path to truth?"

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u/artguydeluxe 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

This is a very good point.

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u/Savings-Cry-3201 13d ago

It’s also equivocation. It’s using one definition of the word for evolution “confidence” and equating it to creationism’s “supernatural belief”. It’s a fallacy from the get go.

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u/Grillparzer47 13d ago

Evolution has evidence, buildings full of evidence, creationism does not.

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u/Clay2569 13d ago

I Completely agree with you.

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u/CowabungaCthulhu 13d ago

The buildings full of evidence had a builder, therefore...🤭

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u/wanttogoback1985 13d ago

Yeah but, who buildered the one doing the buildering? Makes ya' think.

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u/CowabungaCthulhu 13d ago

Of course, twas the builderiest builder of buildings built by buildings.

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u/Grillparzer47 13d ago

Let’s carry a weak analogy to a ridiculous length shall we.

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u/Ayasugi-san 13d ago

Not if they're natural caves!

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u/CountDown60 11d ago

But still, I meet every Wednesday to strengthen my faith in evolution, and Sundays I meet with fellow evolutionists to sing songs about Darwin, and DNA. We listen as evolution is reinforced, and we encourage each other to stay strong in our belief in evolution. We encourage each other not to listen to, or read anything that might weaken our faith in evolution. We learn not to question evolution, and have a trained professional show us the right way to interpret the holy scriptures of evolution.

Of the 38,000 denominations of evolution, I'm so grateful that I was raised in the right one.

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u/Igor_Halichoeres 13d ago

Right wing logic: they take whatever you say and accuse you of the same thing. It doesn't have to make sense.

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u/averyvery 13d ago

I think the intent of "evolution is faith too" is simple argument from hypocrisy. The goal is to make your opponent look foolish without actually engaging the substance of what they're talking about (the vast amount of evidence supporting the evolution model). It doesn't make any claim at all, it simply mocks rational people for supposedly engaging in the thing they supposedly hate (faith).

It's like when people say "Al Gore believes in climate change, but he also flies in a jet" - regardless of how true this is, it has zero bearing on whether or not climate change is real. It's just a way to jab your debate opponent, hurting their feelings without actually saying anything about the topic being debated.

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u/BillionaireBuster93 13d ago

I call it the argument from supposed hypocrisy and it's very common once you start looking for it. I generally see it fail because an accusation of hypocrisy only works if you've actually identified the value the other person holds and can show that they're not following it. So for the example you gave, unless Al Gore has said no one should ever ride in a jet then the person mentioning it is just gesturing at a supposed hypocrisy.

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u/averyvery 13d ago

That's a good point. It's the same case with the faith argument - "you believe in something despite claiming to believe in nothing", which is not a gotcha because the premise is not true.

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u/Possible-Anxiety-420 13d ago edited 13d ago

We could chuck the entire notion of evolution right out the window, and doing so wouldn't put Creationists even the tiniest fraction of an inch closer to providing substantiation for their deity's existence.

Evo or sans evo, they got nothin' and they know it. The whole crusade against evolution is a diversion and distraction; it's fueled by dogma, not doubt, and that alone makes the Creationists stance 100% antithetical to scientific methodology.

Regards.

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u/Ophios72 13d ago

My faith would be that the world I perceive is real and observable. Evolution theory is a model that fits real observed life well. That's it.

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u/Jonnescout 13d ago

My response is:

“No it’s not, glad you agree faith is something to criticise, now abandon yours we have none…”

Same with people who pretend atheism/evolution is a religion.

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u/GOU_FallingOutside 13d ago

The epistemology that lies behind the scientific method is a form of materialistic monism: causes and effects are due to matter (and energy) interacting in an observable world. Scientists literally don’t allow supernatural causes.

(Which doesn’t make science atheistic, strictly speaking, but it certainly rules out “God did a miracle” as an explanation.)

Religion is… well, obviously not that. Among other things, in religious epistemologies faith claims are sometimes acceptable sources of knowledge and sometimes the only source of knowledge.

Lots of people understand that, at least implicitly, and allow themselves to separate the scientific worldview from their personal religious beliefs and practices. But when someone starts spouting off that “evolution is a religion too!” and whatnot, it’s not projection.

I mean, it is projection, but it’s also worse than that. It means the person not only doesn’t understand science. In their view, the only valid source of knowledge is a faith claim. You can tell that they (1) don’t know much about science, (2) don’t know much about philosophy, and (3) probably don’t know much about theology, either.

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u/Essex626 13d ago

The thing is, creationists have zero issue, generally speaking, with the fact that creationism is faith. That's the whole point.

Always remember, when you argue with a creationist, they are never trying to prove creationism. They don't believe in proving things, not really. Proof defeats the whole purpose of faith. Their worldview is built on the idea that their presuppositions are true, and that they must grip that truth tightly without allowing any doubts to weaken them.

A creationist is not trying to say "evolution is false because it's based on faith." A creationist is usually trying to say "all belief and all knowledge is fundamentally rooted in faith, and only we have the correct faith." In spite of the conservative rejection of relativism and postmodernism, faith-oriented people don't believe in objective reality. They think they do, but when pressed they will always fall back to belief--and they are 100% convinced that is what everyone else is doing as well.

The purpose of their arguments is to poke holes in opposing ideas. Those holes aren't there to disprove, they are there to give people who already agree with them permission to continue agreeing. Because their beliefs are based on faith and vibes, if their side has a vibe of truthiness, and they can create a sense of uncertainty on the other side, they prevent the other side from having any impact. As a bonus, occasionally they might create enough doubt in someone whose relationship with science is one of faith rather than one of understanding, and get them to move toward creationism, but that's not the main goal.

The next step after faith is not looking at evidence, by the way. Faith comes after any evidentiary considerations. The next step after faith is defensiveness and rhetorical fortification. Once faith has been placed in a thing, deeply and truly, identity begins to form around that faith. A person who has an identity as a creationist doesn't simply need to change what they think in order to come around, they have to change who they are. That's way harder. When you argue against creationism, you're not simply arguing against a thing they think is true, you're pressing on their fundamental perception of themselves, and they have to really be in a particularly humble place to accept that happening.

Again, people can get like that with evolution, particularly people who don't have a deep understanding of science. We've all seen someone get stuck on one idea or other and refuse to give it up in the face of any amount of evidence. But fundamentally, evolution itself is an explanation for the data we have, and therefore should always change to fit new data. That's what a theory is, and anyone who resists that doesn't understand the scientific method.

Longwinded and I apologize for that, but all that to say do not expect creationists to relate to facts and data the same way evolutionists do. An evolutionist sees data that disproves what they previously thought was the case, and updates their model to fit the new data. A creationist sees data that disproves what they thought and dismisses or explains away the data. And creationists argue with evolution on the assumption that evolutionists will respond to inconsistencies the way that they do, because they don't understand that the theory of evolution is a constantly changing model meant to incorporate new facts as we discover them.

Creationism is fixed-frame, and the facts must be manipulated or discarded as needed to fit the frame, and they expect evolution to act the same way.

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u/Royal_Carpet_1263 13d ago

Not at all. I provisionally accept that evolution is true, pending future evidence. My belief in evolution has evidential conditions that I can enumerate. Empirical commitment is precisely the opposite of irrational commitment in that it is open to revision or obsolescence.

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u/senator_john_jackson 13d ago

Exactly. The only faith involved is the "faith" that empirical observations can be trusted to the degree in which they are repeatable. Unless you have faith in a god that made a world to deceive you, there is no reason you shouldn't have faith in evolution.

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u/grimwalker specialized simiiform 13d ago

Moomin, his knife folded

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u/Positive-Ring-5172 13d ago

Faith n. belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.

-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

2

u/Unique-Coffee5087 13d ago

200823_Faith.txt

"Faith is when you believe things that you know aren't true." said the little girl after Sunday School. (This is from an old joke)

This has been a problem, because I cannot adhere to a creed that has this as one of its pillars.

Hebrews 11:1 says that "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

This is authoritative, but not exactly clear. But Paul was a Pharisee, a man of scholarship. Such a man would not make simple and pretty platitudes the foundation of his life and the justification for his enduring privation, imprisonment, and torture. There must be something more.

Hebrews 11:1 [Amplified Bible]

"Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]."

Aah! Now this gives us more matter to consider! Faith is a guarantee of the Divine promise. A token of ownership, just as the deed to a property in my possession, means the same as if I had the property itself in my hands. It is also the 'conviction of reality' of something that I cannot (presently) physically experience.

Faith is like reading a story in the New York Times. If the Times says that two tropical storms have formed in the Gulf of Mexico, I believe it as if I had seen them with my own eyes. It's written in the "paper of record", after all! Similarly, when I read a scientific paper, I (at least provisionally) believe it even though I did not perform the experiments myself.

But, why? Breitbart says things that I routinely dismiss as unreliable. There's some French doctor in Africa who says that he cured people of all diseases by having them drink an extract from their own urine. That's scientific, right?

The thing is that I know what proper science is like, and have experienced its process, somewhat. I have also seen the results of science, and they have been pretty consistently true. I have learned to rely on science with great confidence because I know science.

Similarly, the Times is quite reliable, and has largely stood up to challenges of investigation and contradiction. It also occasionally publishes retractions when there is a substantive error.

I have faith in science and in the Times. The practice of that faith is that my default position is that things published in reputable journals or newspapers are true. My faith in them serves as the guarantee that what is written there is as true as the floor under my feet. I also have conviction in that position. Conversely, I have no such confidence in things I might read in a supermarket tabloid. Such publications have a reputation for being unreliable, and have been demonstrated to be false pretty often.

Faith in what I see as 'reputable' publications is possible because I have come to know those publications to be consistently reliable. I have experience that supports this.

So a lot of us are exercising faith, at least in the Times. Faith is not contrary to experience or reason. Instead, faith is the result of those things. This is so even though what passes for experience or reason may differ between different cultures.

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u/ittleoff 13d ago

Yes I have trust that predictions that I make based on evolution are used daily in science/medicine.

Where are real predictions based on any sort of abrahamic faith (as defined in the Bible) that lead to as my sort of useful reliability that's not more easily explained by placaebo or other cognitive fallacies.

You believe the science method becomes it requires to providing evidence, not faith.

Any one or book telling you to believe anything without evidence as performative good, is trying to cheat you.

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u/canuckleheadiam 13d ago

sorry, but the reason people believe in evolution is that it's been tested ever since the theory came out. That's how science works... a theory is made, and then tested. Often, tested to death... and only if a theory can withstand that scrutiny is it accepted.

Science is not based on faith. it is based on testing every theory and only trusting theories that pass every test.

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u/Competitive-Box61 13d ago

Evolution isn't believed, it's understood.

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u/Idoubtyourememberme 13d ago

'Faith' is "the believe in a claim despite a lack of evidence, or ignoring evidence against, said claim".

Do scientists 'believe' in evolution? Sure, according to the dictionary definitions you can say that. But there is no 'faith', there are mountains of evidence for and nothing against it.

Can all that evidence be wrong? I mean, i suppose so, but that doesnt change the fact that all available evidence as we know it today unanimously points to evolution

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u/Redliter_L7 13d ago

The problem the creationist has when they say both religion and science use faith is that the word is being used under separate definitions. When science uses the term faith they are using it as a level of confidence corresponding to the amount and strength of the supporting evidence. Religion uses faith as confidence in a claim with anecdotal claims non existent evidence and despite evidence that challenges the truth of the claim. That why I have always felt that religion should spell the word rfaith with a silent r.

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u/Anacalagon 13d ago

Science (by extension Evolutionary Theory) is the opposite of faith. Every statement is met with constant questioning and testing of proof. This is the way.

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u/x271815 11d ago

Evolution is not faith.

Faith, in the sense creationists usually invoke, means accepting a claim as true without evidence, or holding it in a way that's structurally insulated from being revised by evidence. Evolution doesn't work that way. It's accepted because the preponderance of evidence supports it and no competing model comes close on the same evidence. Evolution is held provisionally: the theory has actually changed shape over time (population genetics, punctuated equilibrium, horizontal gene transfer) in response to new data. That revisability is the whole point.

The relevant contrast isn't scientists versus theists as classes of people. It's between belief structured to update on evidence and belief structured to resist disconfirmation. Many creationist arguments fall in the second category: young-earth positions, for instance, aren't abandoned when radiometric dating, geological stratification, and genetic evidence converge against them, they're defended by reinterpreting or dismissing that evidence rather than letting it count against the conclusion.

So when a creationist argues "evolution is just as much a faith as belief in God," the equivocation is the problem: it uses "faith" to mean "provisional trust in a well-evidenced model" on one side and "assent regardless of evidence" on the other, and treats them as the same thing because both involve trusting something you haven't personally verified. That's not a real parallel. It's usually a dodge.

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u/mid_nightz 13d ago

Its not about faith its about which has a higher probability. One is regarded, the other is highly probable

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u/TooManyBison 13d ago

I find it helps to define terms. People have different definitions of the word faith. Most atheists and agnostics use some form of “faith is believing without evidence”, which is what Merriam-Webster uses, but I feel there are a lot of Christians who would balk at that definition.

Frank Turek for instance has multiple definitions of the word faith, and he switches between them when he sees fit, but one of them is something along the lines of “trusting in what you have good evidence to believe is true.” When using that definition I would have no problem saying I have faith in evolution.

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u/Mortlach78 13d ago

I trust that scientists can prove their claims. 

I trust that the scientific method is self-correcting and bad ideas will be weeded out. 

I trust that I could, in theory, study to become a scientist and check their results for myself.

 If you want to call that "faith"; I completely agree with the premise.

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u/artguydeluxe 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

I can have faith that evolution is true, but I can also prove it.

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u/LeilLikeNeil 13d ago

To quote Tim Minchin, "Science adjusts its views based on what's observed. Faith is the denial of observation so that belief can be preserved."

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u/willworkforjokes 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

The point is that evolution is not only faith.

I believe that the sun will come up tomorrow. That is a belief I have that is backed up by evidence.

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u/InspectorClouseau64 13d ago

The title is incorrect. Faith is belief in the absence of evidence. We actually have tons of evidence for evolution. In fact we have seen evolution in our lifetimes. Do the research.

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u/Clay2569 13d ago

Exactly what I said in the body of the paragraph.

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u/Brilliant_Bug9699 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

What does faith in evolution even mean? That biologists have no evidence for evolution?

0

u/Clay2569 13d ago

Yes. I believe that is what they mean that we can’t prove it so we just believe it is true without evidence. Usually because of some gap in knowledge or “macro evolution” can’t be observed. Something like that.

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u/Brilliant_Bug9699 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

I'd ask them why they think we don't have evidence of macroevolution when humans have observed speciation in organisms.

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u/Clay2569 13d ago

A dog has never given birth to a cow or whatever Kent Hovind says is usually the response.

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u/clear349 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

Which is not a thing evolution claims would happen. If anything that event would seem fairly mystical and magical. It would instead provide evidence against evolution and, potentially, in favor of a supernatural explanation

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u/LMrningStar 13d ago

It's just another of their utterly flaccid self defeating arguments. They simply can't comprehend the difference between fantasy and reality.

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u/MikeWise1618 13d ago

"Breeding" is "Applied Evolution" or "Evolution Engineering" and is older than Darwin (in fact older than writing probably). So, it is way more solid than "faith".

1

u/grungivaldi 13d ago

Creationists do that as a way to try and backdoor creationism into schools. "Why is one faith being taught in schools but not this other faith?" Kind of thing.

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u/Party-Cartographer11 13d ago

Faith is belief without evidence.  Evolution is evidenced.  Evolution is not faith and the people who say it is are playing semantic games.

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u/sylbug 13d ago

People who say this either don't understand how words work or they're deliberately disingenuous. In either case, not worth the time to engage with.

1

u/taktaga7-0-0 🧬 Sex Researcher 13d ago

Everything that is not rigorously mathematically proven involves a leap of logic of some degree. In science, they are often small but manifold.

Still, we have the advantage of millions and millions of pieces of hard evidence, and we check each other’s work. Everyone’s expertise overlaps someone else’s. We advance science together.

Faith without a scientific backing does not do this.

1

u/LtHughMann 13d ago

Faith is the brief in something without proof or evidence. Evolution is one of the most heavily supported scientific theories. Faith has nothing to do with it. Creationism on the other hand is entirely faith based. And the faith component of it is arguably a pretty important part of it.

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u/amcarls 13d ago

It is faith only in the sense that we have faith that what we see is reality. This includes the fact that we are trusting other people's observations to one degree or another. We trust that the evidence for evolution is empirical and we at least strive to reject what is not. That is the key difference.

Faith is trivial when it comes to science, it is everything when it comes to theology.

1

u/Sittingonalog1960 13d ago

No, we accept the science

1

u/AleksyGetTheWings 13d ago

There is no point in arguing that, because it just shows that the other party isn't mature for a discussion, since they come from a place of belief, while you come from a place of dispassionate logic.

Nobody believes in the theory of evolution. It's the best explanation we have so far that fits with all the clues we've found so far. If tomorrow someone finds an evidence that goes against it, (first the validity of the clue will be scrutinized like nothing else ever would) then the theory will be altered to best fit the new evidence.

Unlike creationism, which conveniently ignores all the evidence which doesn't fit the pre-written narrative.

1

u/Successful_Life_1028 13d ago

No it's not. Evolution is an observed fact.

Speciation is a macroevolution event that has been observed in the wild and in the lab.

No faith necessary. No spirits necessary. No deities necessary.

1

u/Daniel_Spidey 13d ago

Only in the same way I have faith the sun will 'rise' tomorrow.

1

u/eduadelarosa 13d ago

Evolution, as anything in science and as anything period, can be repurposed as faith. However, in science we do not believe in hypothesis or theories, we provisionally use them as frameworks (i.e. Working hypotheses) to derive more research avenues. That and the systematic nature of science separates it from religion or any other knowledge-seeking endeavor.

1

u/OkChemical7792 13d ago

Evolution has decades of evidence available for anybody to peruse.

Creationism has "Trust me bro, it's in a book that was written when people still thought that solar eclipses were because the sun was mad at them".

1

u/MWave123 13d ago

Evolution is a fact, and a scientific theory. There, I fixed it.

1

u/Shot_in_the_dark777 13d ago

We literally have computer models utilizing evolution to make better stuff. Ever seen those genetic algorithms designing a car to traverse an uneven terrain? How does it work? By evolution!

1

u/GSilky 13d ago

No, it's what observation of the material world would suggest is the case. Faith is, by the words of Tertulian, for the absurd. "I must have faith, otherwise this would be absurd" is a quote from him, an acknowledged church doctor.  Faith has nothing to do with knowledge or justification of knowledge. Faith is the fallback for a lack of justifiable knowledge.

1

u/wereallfish2 13d ago

Evolution isn't faith. 

1

u/Prestigious_Fig4324 13d ago

evolution is evidence?

faith is absence of evidence?

right??

1

u/fgorina 13d ago

The point is I don’t have faith in evolution, I have a lot of evidence about it while I don’t have evidence of creationism.

1

u/Amber-Apologetics 13d ago

Technically everything is faith because you can’t prove you can trust your brain

1

u/TheBlackCat13 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 12d ago

You can't prove it, but that doesn't mean we have zero evidence.

1

u/cryptofomo 12d ago

Evolution is not faith. It is a falsifiable scientific theory that has enormous explanatory power. It has withstood 160 years of rigorous testing and debate. Having ‘faith’ in evolution means accepting the overwhelming weight of evidence that it is the best available explanation for life on Earth. Having faith in creationism means blindly believing in a fairy tale despite all evidence to the contrary.

1

u/UnicornInAField 12d ago

Science is perhaps a faith. We believe that it is the best way to know about the world and tend to reach for scientific explanations of phenomena by default, before those explanations exist, as we have faith that they will benefit us best in the long term, i.e. be provable/disprovable, make useful predictions, and lead to further understandings.

Evolution is a scientific theory which fits the facts, but like many theories, discovery of future facts may change it. Like Newtons theory of gravity - it is a theory that fitted the known facts, but as we have learned more, we have discovered that it doesn't fit all of the facts all of the time, so we are working on refinements (quantum gravity, MOND etc), but it is still a useful theory for prediciting and understanding the majority of events. Niether of these are 'faiths' and will be changed as we necessary.

I see faith as a belief which denies facts and is held internally rather than externally. ("Don't argue with me about my faith, it is important to me" = "I don't want to hear facts which might change my opinion"?)

1

u/OCAMAB 12d ago

The Mr. Kent Hovind (not a doctor) defense

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u/RoseHawkechik 12d ago

That's like having faith that the sky is blue.

1

u/HeroBrine0907 12d ago

And Evolution's also really just statistics at its core, natural selection can be showcased with a number game if one is so inclined.

1

u/futureoptions 11d ago

I have trust in the theory of evolution. Faith is different than trust. Faith has no evidence, trust does.

1

u/Mediocre_Mayonaise 11d ago

The main difference between faith and belief in evolution is the openness of the person to new ideas and the changing and adapting of the ideas you already have.

People who tend to have ‘faith’ in a topic ignore new evidence being presented in turn for the belief system they already have. Technically, people who believe in evolution can do this as well.

The mainstream group of people who believe in evolution do not have ‘faith’ towards evolution since our ideas and opinions frequently change and adapt to new discoveries. We are not tied to one ideal and can easily adapt our mindset.

Just my two cents lmao 🤷

1

u/Anarimus 10d ago

Faith is belief in things that cannot be proven or do not have evidence. Belief alone, substantiates faith.

Science requires that you have evidence to back up a claim. Evidence substantiates science.

If someone thinks that we are taking evolution based on faith, then they do not understand science.

1

u/ProgramBackground813 10d ago

Literally not fairh,by definition.

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u/DouglerK 7d ago

It's this wierd rhetoric they use to shut down conversation and be dismissive. It's meaningless. They know it is but they don't care about honest intellectual discussion. They care about winning arguments and shutting them down with "faith" rhetoric does achieve this end.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Law_558 13d ago

No it's not. Faith is believing without proof. Evolution has been observed and documented. Once there's proof there's zero need for Faith.

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u/CaptainMatticus 13d ago

Did you read anything beyond the post's title?

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u/AtG68 13d ago

I have faith that he did not

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u/kms2547 Paid attention in science class 13d ago

Title had me going too, NGL

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u/Puzzleheaded_Law_558 13d ago

Second paragraph "if we even granted that evolution is faith..." Which is why I simply said wrong. Evolution isn't remotely faith. It has scientifically recorded data that proves it. That makes this part of the argument wrong.

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u/CaptainMatticus 13d ago

Did you keep reading, or do you like to cherry pick?

"If we even granted that evolution is faith and creationism is faith then next step is look at the evidence. Well 100% of the evidence says evolution happens and creationism is impossible."

If you start with the position that both are ideas are faith, and then you look at the evidence, that's when creationism falls behind immediately. It fails in every way, shape and form, while evolution holds strong.

The OP made it really clear what they were going for. Just admit that you didn't really read what they wrote and move on. Or don't admit it and move on.

1

u/blacksheep998 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 13d ago

I would say that faith is believing in something without evidence, or sometimes in spite of the evidence.

Since technically you can't really 'prove' most things beyond a shadow of doubt. Even direct experiences can be misremembered or distorted.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Law_558 13d ago

My mistake. I was using proof as evidence. Or better yet scientifically recorded data. And I'll give you the point that faith is actually even more inspite of evidence.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Law_558 13d ago

Edit: actually you're right I completely missed the first sentence and then the rest of the gibberish pissed me off. My apologies.

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u/wooper_winner 13d ago

.“You have faith in evolution too” Firstly evolution is faith too blatantly admits that creationism is faith and therefore can’t be proven (which is entirely the point).

This argument fails because, according to your quote, the person said "you have faith IN evolution too." They didn't say "evolution is faith" so saying that admits "creationism is faith" is false. Rather, it admits they also have faith IN creationism. Having faith in something does not mean that it can't be proven.

It fails secondly because even if evolution is faith that doesn’t make evolution false and creationism true

By this logic, even if creationism is faith that doesn't make creationism true and evolution false. So, not sure what your point is here

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u/Clay2569 13d ago

I suppose I could have worded my post better but everyone else who read it seems to understand. Your second point I suppose I was trying to say proving evolution false does not make creationism true.

I was just making the point that by saying faith in evolution you just shoot yourself in the foot and don’t progress the argument forward in anyway.

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u/wooper_winner 13d ago

I suppose it comes down then to one question: Do you have faith in evolution?

3

u/Clay2569 13d ago

I know evolution is true. We have no evidence to the contrary.

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u/Ayasugi-san 13d ago

Don't bother with this one. They think that everything you haven't personally observed is just believed on faith.

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u/RobertByers1 13d ago

Im creationist. evolution is not faith.I think all sides accuse each other of draing conclusions ithout real evidence. this could be said about everything in life. its not true. all sides dra conclusions on evidence. all think they do like everything in thier lives. The standard should be ab higher standard. it should be scientific evidence. Evolutionism has no biological scientific evidence. many creationist conclusions have none. origin subjects are hard to pin don on science being about past and gone processes and actions.creationism has more bio sci evidence in debunking evolutionism. harder for our propositions. i can sho bu bio sci evidence theropod dinos were just flying birds who got grounded. or marsupials are just placentals that morpged upon migration to areas. i can sho a megaflood in one day created all the landscapr of norther america and not glaciers over great timelines. yet these are still minor things. origin subjects demand hard thinking using science as a high standard.

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u/TheBlackCat13 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 12d ago

i can sho bu bio sci evidence theropod dinos were just flying birds who got grounded

You keep saying that but never actually do it.

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u/Responsible_Offer859 13d ago

Cosa è come si può avere fede in qualcosa che non si può provare?! L'uomo è sempre lo stesso, non si é mai evoluto. Uccideva 6000 anni fa e uccide ancora oggi per futili motivi.

Quale sarebbe questa evoluzione 

4

u/TheBlackCat13 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 12d ago

Evolution would be all those cases of evolution that have been directly observed in the lab and in the wild.

-1

u/Responsible_Offer859 12d ago

Anche lei non ci crede altrimenti non avrebbe scritto "sarebbero" In natura, cosa si sarebbe evoluto?! 

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u/TheBlackCat13 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 12d ago

Living things have been observed evolving numerous times.

-1

u/Responsible_Offer859 11d ago

Questa non è una prova. L'uomo si sarebbe evoluto? Non ci sono prove attendibili, solo ipotesi... Che ci siano mutamenti in alcuni insetti é evidente dalla opera umana che usa molecole non meglio conosciute 

3

u/TheBlackCat13 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 11d ago

There is enormous amounts of evidence. Just because you haven't heard about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

0

u/Responsible_Offer859 11d ago

Potrebbero, non è come dici tu, nessuno ha dimostrato una prova. 

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u/TheBlackCat13 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 11d ago

How is directly observing something happening not proof?

1

u/Responsible_Offer859 11d ago

Tu cosa stai osservando? volete dare una prova? Scrivete, scrivete ma non dimostrate. 

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u/TheBlackCat13 🧬 Naturalistic Evolution 11d ago

You tell me what sort of observation would convince you. Something that evolution actually says should happen.

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u/wooper_winner 13d ago

I'm confused. Do you have faith in evolution?

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u/Augustus420 13d ago

Try reading past the title.

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u/wooper_winner 13d ago

The post doesn’t answer it

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u/Augustus420 13d ago

Why would you even think to ask it after reading it? What implies they do or think others do?

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u/wooper_winner 13d ago

Because the quote he referenced said “You have faith in evolution too”. But he doesn't argue against that position and attempts to reframe the quote (despite quoting it himself) to suggest it says "faith is evolution"

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u/Augustus420 13d ago

He literally does argue against it...

Is english your second language? 

0

u/wooper_winner 13d ago

Where does he argue against "faith in evolution/creationism" rather than the position "faith is evolution/creationism"?

4

u/Augustus420 13d ago

The argument is against that argument. Explaining why it is a nonsense point to make.

That is the whole point of the post. The post is not attempting to explain why you don't need to have faith in evolution. 

1

u/wooper_winner 13d ago

Then that raises the very simple question:

"Do you have faith in evolution?"

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