Are you a believer of evolution?

Emphatically yes.

That would be a yes from me.

I certainly believe in evolution. I know the thread in question and that guy was just being stupid. He said that complex life couldn’t spontaneously appear, well, he’s right. Evolution proves that life didn’t spontaneously appear. Life started out very very small and simple and gradually got bigger and more complex.

Considering that I got my Master’s degree in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, I would have to say not “yes,” but “Hell, yes!!!”

Yes, yes I am a believer in evolution.

Yes.

I absolutely do believe in evolution.

I do not believe in evolution.

No I don’t.

I still don’t like the phrase “believe in evolution”. It’s not a religion. But yes, I believe that it occurs and has occurred in the past in various ways and there is plenty of evidence to support it. I also do not think evolution is incompatible with many religions.

For shizzle.

Yup. Evolution is where it’s at.

So much as one can “believe” in scientific facts.

@KatawaGrey I 110% agree. My whole issue with people claiming that complex life couldn’t just magically appear is this…neither can God. Science makes a lot more sense than some mysterious “being” who somehow created this entire world in, what was it, 7 days? Right.

I’m not sure. There’s so much we are not aware of, how the hell can anyone know?

@DominicX The word “believe” doesn’t always have to tie into religion.

I believe God created everything.

“I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe- What I believe is right.”

I stole this quote from George W. Bush.

It just felt appropriate.

@Facade: I agree with you on some level. I believe that whatever divine being got the ball rolling but did not necessarily just create everything as it is now. I don’t see how religion and science have to be mutually exclusive.

I’m with @DominicX. I don’t like to say that I believe in anything, since belief implies faith, and faith implies no proof is necessary. I need proof of anything to be convinced of it. And I am certainly convinced of evolution. :)

I mean… Evolution is really not a question anymore… evolution as it is defined (change in allele frequency in a population over time) has been witnessed, soooo…

@fireinthepriory: Ah, you said the “p” word. What you call proof and what a deeply religious person calls proof are two very different things.

Well, when I look at the world and see what science says about it, and then see what the various religions say about it, I am more inclined to say that evolution simply is more logical. I choose evolution.

Stories of talking snakes, a cherubim with a flaming sword guarding the Garden of Eden, and a guy who can build a boat out of gopherwood large enough to hold every species on the planet are nice stories, but scientifically impossible.

one thing about the bible, is that after reading much of it, god seems like a malevolent thug with sadistic impulses. I always feel the need to wash my hands after reading it.

@ItalianPrincess1217 Oh, I know. It’s just those connotations make people think science is something to have faith in (faith definition #2 – see the dictionary).

Furthermore, I’ve always been curious how such things like Neanderthals and other early hominids are explained without evolution. I’m sure the “other side” has an explanation; I’m just not sure what it is.

@KatawaGrey I guess you’re right about that. I suppose you could say I am easily convinced of things when there are pretty graphs and lots of numbers involved… :)

I believe in God and I believe in a higher being. I think Jesus came and died for our sins. If others don’t think that way, it’s up to them, I am never going to push my beliefs on anyone else.

@DominicX: The crazier ones say the anthropologists are trying to trick us by hiding bones in the dirt.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: He didn’t have room for them unicorns.

@DominicX I guess I’m just one of those people that think believing in something and having a relgious faith are two completely different things. Example: I believe that if I go outside in a snow storm wearing only a bathing suit, I will be cold. That’s not religous. See what I’m saying? I don’t even know what I’m getting at anymore. Don’t mind me. It’s been a long day ;)

@ItalianPrincess1217

Yeah, you’re right. That’s what I said: I know it doesn’t necessarily have to do with religion. “Believe” just means to have confidence in the truth of something. I was just speaking of the way people associate the word “believe” with “faith”, which is a different concept.

/linguistics major :)

@KatawaGrey

I was reading about it and apparently they believe that they were some kind of ape and have nothing to do with humans.

I “believe” in gravity. I “believe” in relativity. I “believe” in the duality of light. I “believe” the Earth is flat, and that the Earth revolves around the Sun. I “believe” germs cause disease. I “believe” that DNA is a double helix, and that it is our genetic material. In sum, I “believe” in the scientific method for determining the laws on nature, evolution being as much so as gravity.

Exchange “believe” with “understand the scientific basis of and the experiments that support the theory that…” and you have a much more accurate reflection of my mindset. Teach the controversy.

@DominicX: You are correct sir. We are in no way related to Neanderthals. Well, not no way. We’re related to them like we’re related to chimps.

How can you not believe in evolution? Think about all the levels of evolution, us from zygotes to adults, us in our emotional lives from teenagers to adults. If you are still alive that one alone should make you believe in evolution. Us as a society from thousands of years ago to now, well that one we may be going backwards.

@KatawaGrey

Well, not quite. Neanderthals are in the genus “Homo” which includes modern humans and their most close relatives. We’re related to them in the same way a house cat (felis catus) is related to a sand cat (felis margarita). That’s the claim, anyway.

Of course, why wouldn’t someone believe in evolution? We have proof of it, and it poses no threat to my religious beliefs (Christianity, btw). I think some people misunderstand and think that evolution cancels out the possibility of Christianity or vice versa and that the two can’t coincide. That’s not the case at all, and they work together quite well. I even know someone who doesn’t believe in God only because he believes in evolution… he’s free to believe what he wants, but by his logic there can’t be apples because there are oranges… it just makes no sense!

I don’t “believe” in evolution. I know it to be true.

But here’s the monkey wrench in the works: I believe God created evolution.

@shilolo

“I “believe” the Earth is flat”

o.O

@drdoombot GA You sneaky bastard.

Definitely! Evolution is much more believable than that other popular, ridiculous theory. I think 18 years of being forced into church, and 8 years of Catholic schools killed that one for me…

Doh. Guess I deserved that. Guess I don’t know what to believe.

it’s not a thing to believe – it just is

@KatawaGrey my favorite Noah’s Ark cartoon is the Gary Larson one where Noah muses that keeping the Unicorn on the Carnivore Deck might have been a bad idea, but of course, I can’t find that particular cartoon on the Internet.

@evelyns_pet_zebra I had a calendar with that comic on it lol. something like “From now on, all Carnivores are restricted to C Deck” and all you see is the unicorns feet up in the air and a bunch of bears and lions standing around noah right?

Haha, yeah I “believe” in evolution. I also believe in gravity, and that the earth is round and rotates around the sun.

@La_chica_gomela there’s actually a group of people that still maintain the world is flat.

@La_chica_gomela people in severe denial.

@ABoyNamedBoobs03 and @jqlyn: I know! It’s called the Flat Earth Society. The fact that the group exists doesn’t make the idea any less ridiculous.

I’ve not witnessed it, and while I would need to test and observe myself to truly know, I do not believe scientists are pulling my leg.

Abiogenesis, however is prolly the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever listened to.

@Anon_Jihad: All you have to do to “witness” it is open your eyes and look around. I witness the fact that evolution is true every day, whenever I look at a tree or a blade of grass, or an insect, or I look at my parents or go to the zoo.

@La_chica_gomela oh no doubt, they’re quite the fist full of crazy…

@Anon_Jihad Abiogenesis is far from a “crock of shit” as you say. Lots of experimental evidence points towards the ability of inanimate matter to form amino acids (and then peptides) along with nucleic acids. For example, recent work published in the premier journal Nature shows how RNA can be generated from very simple precursors, and there is already evidence for self replicating RNA molecules called ribozymes. Thus, a plausible hypothesis (stress, hypothesis) is that at some point, RNA was generated from some basic precursors (perhaps in the presence of amino acids as well), and a self-replicating RNA developed. This RNA could then evolve to perform different functions, and eventually, this would lead to multiple enzymatic activities. Joining together, these enzymatic activities might have become the beginnings of replicating “organisms” that eventually led to bacteria, and then, ultimately, humans.

Of course. I also happen to believe the Earth is round.

God created the heavens, the earth, and man. He did it all before gods had evolved beyond the monkey god phase.

you know, you don’t see any triangular earth…(-ites?) ... around. you’d think with people spending enough time thinking that God will appear on channel 18 at a certain time on a certain date, you’d find at least a handful of crazies to be creative enough to find a way to make the world a more interesting shape…

@shilolo: Wheee! We talked about that in one of my classes last week! Hey!

@La_chica_gomela Cool. Glad to see I’m “up to date”. In fact, the discoverer of ribozymes, Tom Cech, was the very first Nobel Laureate I ever met (back in 1993; ugh, I’m old).

It is irrelevant if I or someone else believes in evolution or creationism or whatever.

Has evolution occured and is it still occuring? Yes, that has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Anyone can believe anything they want (my nephews believe in Santa) and beliefs are, be definition, separated from fact.

I believe (!) that it is not worse to have an alternative scenario for evolution than it is to have an alternative scenario for the holocaust. I is not a good thing to be a fiend of reason. It is dangerous. If one fact is replaced by someones alternative, emotionally based, explanation then the next, and the next and so forth – where do we end up? In the middle ages?

I’m scared for the US when alternative, hocus-pocus, explanations are introduced in education. You can believe whatever you want but keep it in the church where it belongs.

I always felt like Belief was something you acquire in the absence of Facts. Such as, I believe tomorrow will be a nice day or, I believe in miracles, or I believe in life after death. (I am not implying that beliefs are always wrong) however evolution has enough evidence to support it that I can say something like, I know the theory of evolution is an accurate theory based on the evidence observed. We just get lazy in English and say that we believe in it anyways, even if its not a belief.

To answer your question, Yes I do.

hell to the yes. sort of find it alarming that some people don’t.

I have witnessed evolution occurring (in a video, but still), and so I know it exists.

I would have to agree with many of the answers on this thread, though: evolution is the path through which we, and all other species on this planet, have to come to be as we are today.

However, who/what started us down that path is open for debate.

(I don’t believe in Intelligent Design, though. That’s a little more hands-on than I like my god(s), thankyouverymuch.)

I accept the Theory of Evolution as the only current explanation for the origin of life as we know it that fits the facts that we know.

I’m just curious, how do the flat-earthers explain that the earth’s rotation and the day versus the night? I feel like if the earth was a flat disk in space, the sun wouldn’t really rise or set, just get a little more intense or a little less intense. Or do they still think the sun revolves around us?

I believe in god as the creator and lawmaker of our universe. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in humanism. I believe in love and kindness and forgiveness and solidarity. I believe in the importance of enlightenment and the power of scientific method.

Evolution like general relativity or quantum mechanics is a consequence of applying scientific method. Evolution currently provides the best explanations of how species developed on our planet and offers a deep understanding of the phenomena in nature. To religious people evolution can be interpreted as God’s way to continually change living beings. Evolution is creation is progress. What currently is known about evolution cannot alone explain all phenomena in the development of life. This means scientists have to continue their quest for finding even better explanations augmenting the science of evolution.

My explanation for the sad fact that many religious people state they do not believe in evolution has only in part to do with what’s written in holy books. The accelerating change of technology and the massive information overflow related to it creates fear. Many people long to get simple answers. Modern liberal forms of religion have largely failed to appeal to spiritually inclined people. Spiritual voids are being exploited by the religious right with their (hidden) political agenda. It seems that people only have the choice of becoming atheists or joining the religious right and their anti-scientist way of thinking. Where is the third way? Where are the charismatic leaders who can explain that the existence of God and evolution is no contradiction? Where is the resistance of religious people against the mega-televangelists preaching about a vengeful God? What happened to the Christian core values of kindness and mercy?

To me “not believing in evolution” is no small trivial offense, unless people have really been denied access to good education. Not believing in evolution is almost like supporting Galileo Galilei’s house arrest. How come some people have not learned this important historical lesson? If people “not believing in evolution” become a majority in modern western societies we’re in trouble. I really mean it. So far young-earth creationists are a minority, but I’m worried and I’ve pointed this out in some other threads as well.

Some ancient Greeks already knew the Earth was a sphere and were even able to determine the circumference of our planet with remarkable precision. They had great philosophers and scientists. What happened? A steady decline followed. It took Europeans more than 1500 years to rediscover their way of thinking. It’s called the Renaissance and it led to the age of Enlightenment. The witch hunts continued for a while but eventually reason prevailed. This example shows that advanced civilizations such as the ancient Greek have no guarantee of survival.

Here’s another example: the Islamic Golden Age dated from the 7th to 13th centuries. During this period, artists, engineers, scholars, poets, philosophers, geographers and traders in the Islamic world contributed to the arts, agriculture, economics, industry, law, literature, navigation, philosophy, sciences, sociology, and technology, both by preserving and building upon earlier traditions and by adding inventions and innovations of their own (Wikipedia).

What happened? A steady decline followed. No invention or significant discovery in any of the Islamic countries after the year 1500. The dark ages clergymen took over. We can still observe the effects today when fatwas are issued or when people fly planes into skyscrapers awaiting 72 virgins as a reward. What will happen if the dark ages clergymen of Christianity take over? Can we really be so sure reason stays in control? History teaches us other lessons. Nothing is guaranteed. Humanism is not guaranteed. Democracy is not guaranteed. We have to defend it every day. We have to be watchful. If young-earth creationists take over the US will become a theocracy. Separation of state and church will no longer be maintained. The Puritans in the US in the year 1700 believed that there should be no difference between religion and government, that the state and the Church should be governed by the same laws. Some of the religious right feel the same way.

If modern religion does only offer what the religious right has to offer we’re in trouble. Religious people should be offered something else. Michael Lerner calls this the ‘Left Hand of God’. Open-minded religious people capable of critical thinking should join forces with spiritually inclined agnostics and atheists because many values are in fact shared values.

@KatawaGrey – Flat-earthers are a very tiny minority in the much large group of young-earth creationists. It’s actually possible to explain a flat earth without rotation. We can define physical laws that explain a sunrise (the word literally means that the sun rises), day and night, the motion of stars and planet and so forth. The laws are quite complicated for example when you look what Mars is doing at the night sky over a period of many months.

Yes.

That’s like asking if you are a “believer” in the theory that apples, oranges and grapes are fruit.

I also believe in God’s intelleigent design:

These Gods being the likes of Steve Jobs and Soichiro Honda..

A hesitant “yes.”

“Belief” is too weak a word with too many negative connotations.

Like @KatawaGrey I “believe” in a higher power and evolution. The way I see it, evolution could be in said higher beings master plan!

One more comment. Ridicule doesn’t work. In fact very often it’s counterproductive. “Non-believers” of evolution will turn into fanatic “non-believers” of evolution. Comparing god with malevolent thugs is also counterproductive. It will make matters worse. It will turn even more “non-believers” of evolution into fanatic “non-believers” of evolution.

Making fun of ancient myths like Noah and the Great Flood or various negative prophecies show that many atheists are actually also looking for simple answers. Prophecies are bullshit. Miracles are ridiculous. Revelations are absurd. Yeah, that sounds simple. Why look for the deeper meanings of prophecies, miracles or revelations?

Of course. I can’t even grasp how anyone can reach adulthood as a thinking human being and honestly be able to deny evolution.

@syz: It makes sense to me that people could deny it simply because there is no current proof. By that I mean you cannot see evolution happen. I’m not saying they’re right. In fact, I know evolution happens because it just makes so much sense. I think we need to find a way to educate these people in a non-judgmental fashion. Nothing shuts down rational thought like someone coming at you going, “are you stupid or something?”

Can’t say that I believe in anything. However, I do think the there is a lot of evidence to support the theory of evolution as the best explanation for how living things came to be in their current general forms. I do not know of any evidence for any competing theory that is more compelling than the evidence supporting the theory of evolution.

I see little evidence for the “God” hypothesis. However, I can’t rule out the possibility that there may, some day, be more evidence for it; just as I can’t rule out the possibility that there may, some day, be evidence that a giant, invisible pink hippo is responsible for the current form of the universe.

I think there are many simpler explanations or theories to explain why humans have beliefs. None of these explanations say anything about whether the beliefs bear any relationship to the reality of the universe. The explanations do say a lot about the psychology that may lead to “beliefs.”

believe no but think its possible yes….belief is always a different thing for me…at present it seems like the most likely explanation but that doesn’t mean that something wont come along later to disprove it….i can accept it a the current and possible theory of life on this planet

@syz – Kids can be brainwashed by their parents, so by the time they reach adulthood they lose their ability to apply critical thinking.

Ridicule doesn’t work in my opinion. Undoing the brainwashing is almost impossible. It’s like getting a drug addict off the drug. We need to focus on the next generation. Kids need to learn critical thinking and become self-reliant adults. Maybe a campaign like “say no to drugs” could help:

“say no to creationism”
“say no to dark ages belief systems”
“say no to superstition”
“say no to hate groups”

and so forth.

Ok people. “Believe” was clearly the wrong word choice. My phone won’t allow me to edit anything or BELIEVE me, I would have changed the damn thing already.

Oh, we understand. It’s not an attack against you or anything of the sort, it’s just we (physical evidence supporters) are generally asked this question many times and have to reiterate that it isn’t so much a belief – it’s an understanding. It’s cool, don’t sweat it.

@Grisaille :)

@KatawaGrey What do you mean, “there is no current proof”. There are mountains of experimental evidence in support of evolution. You can even witness evolution in action in the form of drug resistance in bacteria and viruses. We’ve all now heard about the superbug, MRSA (methicillin resistant staph aureus). It didn’t become “methicillin resistant” by accident. Evolutionary pressures on run-of-the-mill Staph aureus by exposure to antibiotics (namely, penicillin, methicillin and cefazolin) led directly to the emergence of this bug. That is as current a proof as you can get. FYI, the same thing is happening with influenza. Scary.

@shilolo: If you go on to read the rest of the answer you will see the next sentence which says “By that I mean you cannot see evolution happen.” I suppose I should have been clearer and specified that from generation to generation of complex organisms, you cannot see many physical differences.

@KatawaGrey – You can see evolution happen. Take DNA of bacteria. Observe mutations. Observe selection when faced with an opponent like Penicillium fungi. Live. Real-time. Without even looking at fossils. Without studying comparative genomics. Do all the rest and the evidence is so overwhelming it will make look general relatively like science fiction.

I should really stop playing devil’s advocate. People keep assuming I’m stupid…

When I taught freshman Biology in a university with many, many Mormon students (who were taught to believe in special creation), I always told them that I do not require any of my students to believe in evolution. They just have to understand it so they can explain it on the test.

While that satisfied them and kept them from feeling as if I questioned their belief system, I had an ulterior motive. Once you understand how something works, it is very hard not to let it sneak into your belief system.

Besides, if you don’t think evolution is a real system, then why are you getting a degree in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology?

Thats like asking if I “believe” in Thermodynamics…

As @fireinthepriory stated, evolution is nothing more than changes in allele frequency over time.
To all the people who answered “no”: Do you think allele frequency cannot change within a population over time?
Wikipedia explains what alleles are

@Darwin I’m getting my bachelors in EEB next fall!

@benjaminlevi No need for the technical stuff ;-) Most people that “don’t believe” in evolution aren’t going to go down the science pathway anyway.

@benjaminlevi – Good luck getting a job with that degree. I hope you are planning on going to grad school. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

@shilolo and @benjaminlevi A good point to bring up for those who don’t “believe” in evolution is the fact that there needs to be a new flu vaccine every year. It hits closer to home and is more grounded, I guess, than trying to explain about alleles – I’ve gone that route and it never works! :) But following up the discovery that someone doesn’t “believe” in evolution with asking if they’d then be fine getting last years’ flu vaccine will make many people stop in their tracks.

@ABoyNamedBoobs03 yes, that was the exact comic I was thinking of.

And like the Flat Earthers, there is a very large group of people that believed a middle aged Jewish man who was the offspring of a god and a virgin died on a cross, crucified by the Romans, to wash away the sins of everyone with his blood.

Despite the fact that there are no identifiable Roman records of this crucifixion, and that the people who wrote about it wrote about it AFTER this Jewish guy had been dead for almost four decades, and that NO scholars alive at the time saw fit to mention the miracles jesus performed in their writings.

Washing away sin with blood is an ancient practice, and there are many religions that speak of such things, and the fact that there are at least 25 other known ‘saviors’ of other religious belief systems with the exact same story that lived hundreds of years BEFORE this Jewish guy makes me think that the story of Jesus isn’t all that uncommon.

Yesterday I saw a pigeon fly into a mirrored glass wall and die. Evolution.

@La_chica_gomela: Only if it didn’t pop out stupid kids first. :-P

@La_chica_gomela – A great example. Maybe we don’t need bird scare tapes on windows at some point in the future (will take many generations). Another phenomenon is wild animals entering cities and towns to find new habitats because out there in nature space in dwindling.

Yes, I accept evolutionary theory as valid.

I don’t have to “believe” in evolution. Belief means accepting as factual without proof. There is proof of evolution. I don’t “believe” in photosynthesis or DNA either… ;-)

absolutly.I believe in evolution.What do you think we fall from the skies thrown by some mistically been?

Categorically no.

In the words of the great W.C. Fields; “Everyone has to believe in something, yes, I believe I’ll have another drink.” Make mine an evolutionary step, and be generous with the cherries.