Faith and Darwinian evolution.

There is vast evidence - fossils, closely related creatures (Galapogos islands, for example), DNA records, etc, etc - supporting the concept of Darwinian evolution ... but lets totally ignore those for the moment.

Let's instead ask three questions:-

1. PASSING ON CHARATERISTICS FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION

Do you accept that characterictics from one generation get passed on to the next? That tall parents have a greater chance of having tall children? That fast running rabbits have a greater chance of producing fast running offspring? That the young of a pale coloured sloth are more likely, themselves, to be pale in colour?

Most people - including evangelical christians - would say, "yes".

2. THERE IS AN ELEMENT OF RANDOMNESS IN CHARACTERISTICS OF OFFSPRING

Do you accept that offspring, while they may have characteristics in common, are not identical? That the children of two parents will differ, one from another - they will not all be exactly the same height, exactly the same intelligence, exactly the same strength, and exactly the same appearance?

Again most people - including evangelical christians - would say, "yes".

3. SURVIVAL CAN DEPEND ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A CREATURE

Do you accept that a creature's individual characteristics can affect that creature's chance of survival? That when lions attack a herd of wildebeasts, those wildebeasts that can run faster have a greater chance of escaping and not getting eaten? That an intelligent ape that realises it can use a long stick to knock edible fruit from a tree branch it cannot reach is less likely to starve than a less intelligent one that doesn't? That a long-necked girraffe that can reach fresh leaves may eat while a shorter necked girraffe goes hungry?

Once again most people - including evangelical christians - would say, "yes".

Yet if you put those three together YOU GET DARWINIAN EVOLUTION. It really is as simple and as blunt as that.

It is almost impossible to conceive a circumstance in which the three concepts I have outlined above are true, but Darwinian evolution does not occur.

Characteristics passed on from one generation to the next PLUS randomness of offspring PLUS characteristics having an impact on survival EQUALS Darwinian evolution. It is as simple as 1+2+3=6. So when an evangelical christian accepts the three concepts above to be true, but refuses to accept the truth of Darwinian evolution, it is as if they are saying, "1 exists. 2 exists. 3 exists. 1+2+3=6 - but NO WAY does 6 exist!"