Is Evolution a Religion?

A have often wondered if evolution falls under the classification.
I reads a lot of the posts between churchianity and the evos.

It has many of the main stays of a religion...
conflicting data
zealot like advocacy
disdain for those who don't follow their beliefs
self righteous attitude
disdain for contradictory material from religious sources

If words were taken out as to the topic, many times I could not tell the difference.
It like people from the same family disagreeing on a topic.
This is not to be demeaning, but an actual question.
It seems like both sides contain exactly the same personality base, but with opposite viewpoints.

Your thoughts?

reply to post by winterkill

It has many of the main stays of a religion...
conflicting data
zealot like advocacy
disdain for those who don't follow their beliefs
self righteous attitude
disdain for contradictory material from religious sources

Wow! For a religious poster, you don't have a very high regard for religion, by your description.

I observe in wonder when troll threads like this go up, and gain tons of stars and flags, and ramble on about the ignorance of both sides for pages and pages.

The definition of religion is a belief in a supernatural power, some say it's a set of beliefs that explain what life is about.
As evolution is more of just how we came to be, not a belief in any power, or anything about what life is about, I'd say no.

Originally posted by windword
reply to post by winterkill

 

It has many of the main stays of a religion...
conflicting data
zealot like advocacy
disdain for those who don't follow their beliefs
self righteous attitude
disdain for contradictory material from religious sources

Wow! For a religious poster, you don't have a very high regard for religion, by your description.

I observe in wonder when troll threads like this go up, and gain tons of stars and flags, and ramble on about the ignorance of both sides for pages and pages.

I'm actually a very religious poster, but I add, one that follows that logic will follow the voice of God.
To follow the voice of a man, to trust that his translation is correct is folly.
I see the same tendencies exhibited by both sides of this argument of God no God and became curious what the difference was.

Belief to the exclusion of all data, is foolhardy and violent in its end.

There is data for both, but few stop to hear it.

Hence my question...is it simply the mirror of organized religion.

Blah blah blah I'm going to try and validate my beliefs by trying to paint science with the same shortcomings of baseless fantasies.

Your tactics are transparent and futile.

Originally posted by winterkill
A have often wondered if evolution falls under the classification.
I reads a lot of the posts between churchianity and the evos.

It has many of the main stays of a religion...
conflicting data
zealot like advocacy
disdain for those who don't follow their beliefs
self righteous attitude
disdain for contradictory material from religious sources

If words were taken out as to the topic, many times I could not tell the difference.
It like people from the same family disagreeing on a topic.
This is not to be demeaning, but an actual question.
It seems like both sides contain exactly the same personality base, but with opposite viewpoints.

Your thoughts?

I agree.. and....

Im still waiting for a fish to turn into something and I keep waiting on other species to evolve into something ....

reply to post by winterkill

I'm actually a very religious poster, but I add, one that follows that logic will follow the voice of God. To follow the voice of a man, to trust that his translation is correct is folly. I see the same tendencies exhibited by both sides of this argument of God no God and became curious what the difference was. Belief to the exclusion of all data, is foolhardy and violent in its end. There is data for both, but few stop to hear it. Hence my question...is it simply the mirror of organized religion.

Evolution never makes the statement that that God doesn't or does exist. Evolution does not ponder the genesis of "life." Evolution does, however, contradict the story of the biblical "Genesis."

Wow, kind of like that retort 3 up. Emotion without ears.

When did dialogue become a lost art?

reply to post by windword


The question was, what is the difference between the exhibited characteristics of both sides?
One is called religion. The other should also then, should it not?

You might want to take a read through this thread from the past week...
Could Atheism be technically considered a religion?
There are 35 pages of opinions there.

Just to clear up your confusion.

Evolution is NOT religion. Never was.

All things evolve on this planet, and so too does physics - the religion of skeptics. Matter exists in many states, eg - water into steam, condensation, etc.

As for sentient beings, so too does evolution (to be better than before) happens. Notice the many non-homo sapien species evolve seemingly on their own for survival sake, such as fishes moving in inland seeking for food and gradually growing the necessary limbs over long periods of time, for survival.

As for homo-sapiens such as us, we evolved far, far more quickly than our closest cousins the monkeys. What accounted for such growth, as monkeys still exists today and yet they cannot even build a shelter for themselves, while we mankind stepped onto the moon, a true scientist will ask.

The answer lays with the teachings from our cavemen and jungle dwelling ancestors, whom 'somehow' had been given knowledge to progress beyond their environments and get to the stars today.

Figure out that 'somehow' by your own free will and you will appreciate and treasure the knowledge self found.

reply to post by Klassified


Maybe we should debate if physics is a religion too! After all, look how many different sects there are!

Types of Physics

Particle Physics
Astrophysics
Theoretical Physics
Experimental/Applied Physics
Mechanical Physics
Quantum Physics (Quantum Mechanics)
Bio Physics

But they're all based in that earlier religion, mathematics, with even more sects!

Addition, subtraction, division,
Algebra, Geometry, trig and calculus.........

Standard Notation in Mathematics
Finite Mathematics
Mode in Mathematics
Discrete Mathematics

Yep, definitely religions!

reply to post by MamaJ


You'll be waiting for more than one lifetime. It takes millions of years of small, incremental changes. In theory your fish could, over the course of many generations, eventually develop legs and turn into its closest neighbour, the amphibian.

That is, if growing legs was a benefit to the survival of the fish, as we know that evolution is guided by natural selection.

reply to post by winterkill


You're making the mistake of seeing science and religion as two opposing approaches to reality, when they can actually exist side by side.

Science is the logical, "left-brained" approach in which reality is systematically examined.

Religion is the opposite; creative and intuitive "right-brained" approach.

Science tells us more about how reality works, and is willing to question itself when it seems reasonable to do so. Science starts with understanding what we can observe and expands outward from there, discovering things which cannot be directly observed (a great example of this would be radio waves)

Religion, on the other hand, does not tell us about how reality works, but attempts to answer the questions of why reality exists, and what caused it. Religion infers from the idea that a "creation" exists, then there must be a creator. Rather than expanding knowledge from a known origin, like Science does, Religion moves in an erratic manner: from that which is before our eyes, then straight out the limits of reality to make assumptions about that which we do not know, then making further assumptions based on that initial assumption, then making laws and imposing their assumptions on other people.

Religion doesn't take it well when its assumptions are shown to be wrong by Science, as this undermines their laws which are based on these assumptions. Thus, Religion has set itself as an adversary to Science.

Science is progressive. Religion is stagnant, obstructive, even regressive.

There are new brands of Spirituality emerging which do not set themselves against Science, but rather expand off of it to create a different model of the universe beyond science's understanding. These forms of Spirituality are less interested in making laws to control people, and more interested in understanding what reality is all about.

The important thing to understand is that things which are based on the creative, intuitive mind should not be considered unchanging, immutable facts, and furthermore, should not stand in the way of unchanging, immutable facts.

I've noticed lately that a lot of people ignore the "search" function.

Could this group of people be anti-search.

Do you think anti-searchists are part of a religion or a cult?

Seriously this topic has been covered ad nauseum.

No, it is not a religion.

It is backed by data and evidence that has proven it beyond reasonable doubt, hence why it has gained the title of a Theory of science. It is pretty much true, evolution happens, just because we haven't found the missing link's bones doesn't mean they aren't there, this is a big planet with lots of land to dig up to find them.

Religion is following something on faith, evolution is something that is evidence based, the complete opposite of faith.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Gravity is a religion....

God holds me to the ground... you silly scientists and your faith.

Reply to post by Wertdagf

Seriously?

I think people like you are evidence that free speech should only he a right for some people ... People that use their brain, instead of relying on others'.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by MamaJ


Waiting never got anyone anywhere, you should try looking instead.

www.mnn.com... rs/wilderness-resources/stories/newly-evolved-finch-appears-on-the-galapagos-islands

news.bbc.co.uk...

www.nsf.gov...

And the best link of them all...

lmgtfy.com...


You see, if you wait your whole life to explore the world, then you're only going to explore the area directly around you. Seeking information doesn't hurt.


Now to the OPs question. Evolution is no more a religion then breathing air is, because both are founded on the ideal of observable data. Religion, on the other hand, has no absolute proof that God exists, because if God proved he exists, then he wouldn't need people to have faith.

Originally posted by six67seven
I've noticed lately that a lot of people ignore the "search" function.

Could this group of people be anti-search.

Do you think anti-searchists are part of a religion or a cult?

Seriously this topic has been covered ad nauseum.

The only people who are afraid to search for answers, are those who fear questioning their own beliefs.