I’ve recently been on a nostalgic mood, especially concerning old writings of mine, because I haven’t written in so long and I miss it terribly… During these moods I came upon some of my “homeworks” for college and particularly those I wrote in the context of the subject of “Evolution” (I majored in Biology).
This particular sample I want to share was an essay required of us in the first week or so of that semester (back in 2006?). It was originally written in Portuguese, of course, so some things may be somewhat “lost in translation”. The topic was the title of this post, and we were supposed to give an opinion on the matter in no more than half an A4 page (slightly wider than a legal pad). It’s one of those things I’m proud enough to have produced (in non-fictional writing that is). So I thought I could share and get some feedback, though today I would probably go at it from a slightly different angle. And if it weren’t for the size-limit, I would have written it a bit longer and would have developed a couple more arguments… But this was the end result, as I wrote it then, so I won’t “tweak History” and I’ll just share it as it is.
I know it’s a controversial subject, but I hope that people can be civilized enough not to fall into ad-hominem debate, with nothing to add than “you’re totally wrong, dude”. Oh, and, before anyone asks, I’m an atheist.
Here it goes:
“When there’s a matter of knowing whether two concepts can be conciliated it is first necessary to fully understand them. In this case, both concepts are usually subjected to some discussion, so it’s fundamental to present my chosen definition for them, before I can submit them to analysis.
The most widely accepted definition of Evolution, and the most easily understood by the general public, is perhaps that it is “a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations” (as it was summarized, by Laurence Moran, the definition of Douglas J. Futuyma in Evolutionary Biology, Sinauer Associates 1986).
The definition of Religion, on the other hand, leads to much more controversy amongst specialists, because there is still debate whether a certain phenomenon being studied is considered Religion or simply a belief, ritual or superstition, though globally professed. One of the definitions I consider more honest is the one by C.S. Jung, because I find it is comprehensive enough to include all those considered Religions (both by specialists and laymen), but also exclusive enough to separate from Religion the practice of superstitions. For Jung, Religion is an “attitude of the mind” that can “be formulated in accordance with the original use of the word religio[1]” that “means a careful consideration and observation of certain dynamic factors that are considered as powers[2]”. From a practical point-of-view, a religion is a group of practices associated with a belief, usually linked to a divine entity, often including a set of moral standards.
Most religions attempt to offer an explanation to phenomena that, since the beginning of times, have always puzzled Man, such as birth, death and Creation. It doesn’t always happen that a believer (or a devout) takes as certain all the explanations of his/her chosen religion to these questions, and many times the devout simply identifies him/herself with the core of that religion. The perspective of each individual on what a Religion is changes radically the ability to adjust one’s beliefs to the facts that Science attempts to explain.
Inside the Catholic Church itself, for instance, there are numerous entities that profess their beliefs side by side with the Evolutionary theory and, in my opinion, there is no paradox here. One thing is their faith in God and that He is the Creator of the Universe. Another completely different thing is to deny the current scientific theories that try to explain the process of Evolution. The fact that a devout accepts Evolution doesn’t mean that he/she is denying his/her belief in God. Religion and Evolution are not, in my opinion, mutually exclusive ideas. The fact that one accepts that there is a “process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations” doesn’t prevent one from believing that there is a divine entity, all-present and all-seeing, that may have created the world or rules their lives.
Above all, I believe that what is the heart of every Religion – the discussion of the existence or not of divine entities – is, in reality, very distant from the object of study of Science itself and its ability to make proof, so these two areas don’t really overlap. Therefore, I gather that the matter itself of (re) conciliating Evolution and Religion isn’t even applicable.”
[1] Religio – “reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety, the res divinae or divine thing»
[2] Jung defines powers as: “spirits, demons, gods, laws, ideas, ideals, or whatever name man has given to such factors in his world as he has found powerful, dangerous, or helpful enough to be taken into careful consideration, or grand, beautiful, and meaningful enough to be devoutly worshiped and loved”
