(no subject)
By now you may've seen the Pew Forum's graph showing the proportion of people in the US of different religious beliefs who accept evolution, but for me more interesting is their overview of different religion's official stances on evolution.
Very many Christian denominations see no contradiction between God's role as the creator of the universe and life and the scientific fact of evolution: the Catholic Church, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Episcopal Church (which explicitly rejects Creationism!), the Evangelical Lutherans... even when it comes to the group with the lowest proportion of those who accept evolution, the Mormons, the Pew Forum reports: "several high-ranking officials have suggested that Darwin's theory does not directly contradict church teachings".
This official acceptance stands in stark contrast to the widespread attitude that acceptance of the fact of evolution, and Christian belief, are mutually exclusive. I think that attitude can distort our understanding of the general public's thinking on evolution. Many Westerners believe that some combination of natural selection and divine action resulted in life and human beings, from those who believe in God but take a wholly naturalistic view of evolution, to people who accept that evolution occurs but see it as directed by God, to those who are frankly a bit puzzled by the whole thing.
Very many Christian denominations see no contradiction between God's role as the creator of the universe and life and the scientific fact of evolution: the Catholic Church, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Episcopal Church (which explicitly rejects Creationism!), the Evangelical Lutherans... even when it comes to the group with the lowest proportion of those who accept evolution, the Mormons, the Pew Forum reports: "several high-ranking officials have suggested that Darwin's theory does not directly contradict church teachings".
This official acceptance stands in stark contrast to the widespread attitude that acceptance of the fact of evolution, and Christian belief, are mutually exclusive. I think that attitude can distort our understanding of the general public's thinking on evolution. Many Westerners believe that some combination of natural selection and divine action resulted in life and human beings, from those who believe in God but take a wholly naturalistic view of evolution, to people who accept that evolution occurs but see it as directed by God, to those who are frankly a bit puzzled by the whole thing.