(October 22, 2018 at 8:17 am)Grandizer Wrote: This is something I've been curious about for a while based on how some theists have described evolution in the past.
From Wikipedia:
Quote:Francis Collins describes theistic evolution as the position that "evolution is real, but that it was set in motion by God", and characterizes it as accepting "that evolution occurred as biologists describe it, but under the direction of God".
Bolded mine. What does that mean exactly? Does natural selection still play a role in theistic evolution? Did God, according to theistic evolution, only cause life to emerge and then let the natural processes of evolution do their thing? Or does he continually do the selecting as opposed to nature?
If someone wants to believe in their religion and also accept the current interpretations of where our best understanding of science is pointing us, then all they have to say is that evolution happened as G-d intended; randomly and with the only purpose being to continuously adapt to their environment. When a theist steps into a science environment, such a science classroom, they just turn off the religious component of their brains, and when they step out of that environment, they can sit back and marvel over how they see G-d's hand in it all.
No matter what the atheist or theist claims, there is no test to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the other side whether G-d does or doesn't exist. You cannot prove the theist wrong, and the thesit cannot prove you wrong. And since that's the case, focus on what can be demonstrated scientifically and mutually agreed upon, and agree to disagree on the rest.
