Believing in Evolution

Today was one of many days at "the table," an outreach put on by my campus ministry. From time to time I will come across people with particularly interesting questions or statements, and today I'd like to share one of them.

I was discussing the issue of what the relationship between man and God is with someone who had come to the table, and he asked whether or not religion is a set of rules/guidelines. I gave my usual answer to this question, that Christianity is an understanding of how the universe works. He immediately asked, "So... you don't believe in evolution then?"

The conversation continued on, but the question revealed something to me. This thing was a continuing question over what "religion" is; Is it merely a set of rules for people to follow, is it an understanding of how spiritual things work, or is it something else? In addition, the assumption of evolution being science and science being truth is also intertwined in this question, though the scientific method is based around the idea that all claims are falsifiable, meaning science is not truth, but an approximation of it. Further, the idea that evolution means what a handful of militant atheists say it means is another question that is not typically brought up.

The choice of words was also interesting, "believing in evolution." I think that the man had inadvertently made a point I would like to make here; while many people see belief and faith as a "blind faith," I see it in the same sense that a scientist believes a number of physical laws. In other words, when one is trying to understand the world, one's beliefs are the fundamental assumptions made in order to reach an understanding of something new. Beliefs could be about the nature of people, about God, about what you hear on the news, or read in a book. At some point, you have to make decisions about what you are seeing hearing, reading, etc. is true or not, or if there are elements of truth embedded within something false. What you decide is true, and act on, is what you believe.

As always, the experience of a new question and new perspective was refreshing, and helpful in gaining more understanding in how other people see the world. I think it is important to know where people are coming from if you are going to help them in terms of where they are going.

As further questions come up, I will keep you posted.

Michael