RE: Do you believe in Evolution?
September 11, 2008 at 5:59 pm
(This post was last modified: September 11, 2008 at 6:09 pm by infidel666.)
I am a nihilist, so I don't believe in evolution. I do, however, think it more likely than any other explanation I've encountered so far regarding the diversity of life we see and how it came to be.
Why would someone ask a question like that? Because they want to know the answer? Because they want to know whether someone holds the same beliefs they do? Because they want to hear a denial? Because their "faith" is slipping and they need to have their beliefs externally validated?
The problem to me with the question is that it enforces the assumption that one has to believe in something, and that evolution and creation are the only alternatives. So creationists are constantly trying to poke holes in evolution on the assumption that creationism is the default victor if only evolution can be defeated. But if evolution is wrong, there is still some other more rational explanation than some invisible, omnipotent being that had to exist in order to create us but somehow was able to spontaneously exist, as if that is somehow more reasonable than us spontaneously existing.
Why would someone ask a question like that? Because they want to know the answer? Because they want to know whether someone holds the same beliefs they do? Because they want to hear a denial? Because their "faith" is slipping and they need to have their beliefs externally validated?
The problem to me with the question is that it enforces the assumption that one has to believe in something, and that evolution and creation are the only alternatives. So creationists are constantly trying to poke holes in evolution on the assumption that creationism is the default victor if only evolution can be defeated. But if evolution is wrong, there is still some other more rational explanation than some invisible, omnipotent being that had to exist in order to create us but somehow was able to spontaneously exist, as if that is somehow more reasonable than us spontaneously existing.