Evolution and Creation, Research Paper Example

The subject of origin of life today is becoming a critical point of discussion between science and religion. With every side claiming that they are right in explain it, there is evidence that suggest that evolution and creation co-occur in explaining the origin of man. This therefore suggests that the theory of evolution proposed by scientists finds some supporting evidence in religion. Theologians, philosophers and scientists today are increasingly studying the theory of creation and evolution with the aim of fathoming the origin of man.  The critical re-examination of the evolution theory and creation reveals that there is a close connection between them with evidence showing that man originated from the same theories.

The link between creation and evolution theory has always been the subject of interest between theologians and philosophers and equally scientists. This interest dates back to the early years when evolution theory was first proposed by Charles Darwin. Contrary to early believes that the evolution theory of scientists found home in atheists, today there is a shift in belief as most religions have accepted the theory. The Catholic Church which is considered among the strongest and conservative of the world Christian denominations, in March 2009 planned to issue in the Vatican conference statements that suggested that there is a connection between religion and the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin. (BBC Tuesday, 3 March 2009)  This revelation by the Catholic Church, which has been the centre of opposition for the theory of evolution marked the beginning of the belief that the theory of evolution indeed has the belief of creation has its basis. In 2007, under the leadership of the current Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church provided that the catholic church supports the view that faith and science coexist. In his statement the pope suggested that the theory of evolution finds its support or origin in the creation by God (MSNBC July 25, 2007).  This opposes what has always been then the centre of catholic opposition of the Darwinian theory of evolution and natural selection. Although the recognition of the Darwinian Theory by the Catholic Church happened in the recent times, the church’s failure to successfully contempt the theory as it did to other scientific theories and ideas explaining the many scientific facts about the world such as the 17^th century theories of Galileo on earth being the centre of the universe. The acceptance of the theory shows that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has some religious backing.

Indeed there is much evidence that suggest that the theory of evolution and the creation belief held by religious individuals coexist. First, the inadequacies of scientific theory of evolution find explanations from the religious point of view. For instance, the theory of evolution does not adequately explain the origin of the first being that today’s life evolved from. Although it desperately tries to provide proof of the origin of the first being, the theory of creation still finds it hard to neglect the contribution of the supernatural. Such inadequacies make the theory of evolution heavily depend on creation for explanation. For there to be harmony in explaining the origin of man, the theory of creation and evolution therefore should co-exist.

The tenets of evolution theory hold that, evolution is the explanation of the diversity that exists in the earth today (Biderman and Scharfstein 161). It also provides that all beings originated from single celled organisms before they developed into the different and diverse multi celled organisms that we see today. Indeed the theory may be plausible in explaining why some organisms have developed the features that they have today. However, the theory is inadequate and still needs the creation theory to explain how the first being that all the diverse beings on earth today evolved from. It should be noted that the theory of evolution does not at any time dispute the account of events as provided by the Christian doctrine of creation which suggest that the earth and all the life in it was created by God. The theory of evolution only tries to explain how living things acquired the features that they have now. A simple explanation of what evolution tries to explain is how living things still change today for example the explanation of the reason why some individuals have developed immunity to HIV while others haven’t. Such small scale evolution shows that the evolution still continues and doesn’t explain the origin of man but rather explains how man and other living things have come to acquire the features that characterize them for now. In such circumstances evolution does not play as the justification of opposing the creation doctrine as used by atheists but it rather acts as a complement of the creation theory.

During the early years of the establishment of the scientific theory of evolution, anybody religious always found the idea that man evolved from a simple being always saw this as thinking that was against religion (Morris 27). With the theory of evolution gaining more evidence as time passes, even the most of religious people who subscribe to the theory of creation have come to believe that evolution indeed occurs. With the new revelations of evidence in form of fossils supporting the theory of evolution, supporters of the theory of creation always find it hard to dispute the existence of life or beings that are not in earth today. A good example is evidence of fossils of extinct animals. How does the creation theory explain such evidence?

The creation theory only tries to explain existence of life that we are familiar with today. Such evidence suggests that creation belief just like the scientific theory of evolution has serious inadequacies. In most cases religions always try to explain mysterious phenomenon by convincing believers that they are miracles. What then should be the explanation of things that already have evidence? Given that evolution theory gives readymade answers to such questions relating to the wonders of the existence of animals that are not in existence in our world today, it is important that the “theory of creation” instead of still relying on miracles to explain things that already have evidence, it can ‘borrow’ from the theory of evolution for it to be more strong and also convincing. With science becoming more and more acceptable in the society, it is also important that religious leaders focus on how their rigidity on accepting scientific evidence can be a drawback to the growth of religion in the society. Because scientific evidence in most cases are very convincing, it is not surprising to hear that some individuals may decide to be theists just because their religion is against simple facts that have been provided by science. In such cases the importance of religion accepting the theory evolution facts can be beneficial to a religion. In such circumstance the coexistence of the theory of evolution and creation is encouraged.

Critical evaluation of the theory of evolution reveals that to the theory explains the origin of living things through the big Bang theory. The big Bang theory is not even scientific in first place (Skehan and Nelson 60). Though geologists are working tirelessly to explain how the big Bang happened, its origin is still shrouded in mystery. The big Bang theory tries to provide the events that led to life but it fails to explain why it happened. Because there is no proper account of events that led to the big Bang, then the bible should still be taken to be the source of the answer of the assumptions and taken (big Bang) to be the intentions of God. The Bible is taken to be the account of events that led to the creation of the earth and the evolution theory comes to explain the course of events after this.

In conclusion, the evolution theory and creation theory both try to explain the origin of man both from a different start with the end result always giving a different views and explanation. From the discussion above, it can be deduced that although the two try to explain the origin of life and how life is today, they both have loopholes that can only be explained by the other. Because the knowledge of man and his universe is imperative to man and is being constantly sought by everyone, a complete understanding of the origin of life and how it has come to be how it is today is important. Complete understanding of the origin of life demands that the theory of evolution and creation coexist.

Works Cited

BBC. Vatican hosts Darwin conference: retrieved on December 16, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7920205.stm

Biderman shlomo and Scharfstein Ben-Ami. Myths and fictions Volume 3 of Philosophy and religion. New York. BRILL, 1993 161

Morris, Henry M. Men of science, men of God: great scientists who believed the Bible. New York. Master Books, 1982

MSNBC. Pope: Creation vs. evolution crash an ‘absurdity’ Benedict XVI also says humans must listen to ‘the voice of the Earth’. Retrieved on December 16, 2009 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19956961/

Skehan, James W. and Nelson Craig. Creation controversy and the science classroom. New York. NSTA Press, 2000