Why do people reject evolution?

[Mazza35]

My ancestors weren't monkeys ok, is that what you want to teach your kids? Bring your child to the zoo and bring them to the chimps and points to them then say' Look its your gradparents wave hello and give them a kiss."? No! That is not right we come from the bible like God says Adam and Eve not Davey and Steve and there was a snake.
So I say to you look in your heart and see that God made you and he made you very special and you are not made from monkeys.

You are a brave man my friend.

He's not brave but simply a troll, you can look at his posting record for that. Also, damn you other biology students for replying before I had a chance to type out my text. I'm having a big exam coming up with that being one of the major parts.

Let me at least say that what religion someone has doesn't necessarily matter. I personally don't really care if you're Christian, Buddhist, Atheist or part of that Shiva cult from Indiana Jones if you're willing to listen to explanations instead of dismissing it all because an old book or a mystic stone stolen from an Indian village tells you so. If the pope can agree with science then there is every possibility of accepting it yourself.
And please never listen to anything said by anyone who calls himself a "creation scientist". If you have ever seen a single Kent Hovind video and actually knew the topic he rambled about you'd understand why. For example he has his own little "theory of evolution(s)" where he also likes to throw in things like "stellar evolution"the formation of stars and planets, "chemical evolution"meaning, the evolution of hydrogen into higher elements or "cosmic evolution"apparently the evolution of time & space.
I could go further and talk a lot about this idiocracy but I think and hope we can all agree on this.

No man you listen to this because it is in the bible. You can't say oh no this man is religious I will call him a troll and then he will not be listened to so people will not hear about god. But if i am a troll i am a troll for God because I will not let you try to make people think that they are monkeys or came from the sea like mermaids. You don't understand because you are probably an atheist and never read the bible anyways you proabaly read the koran like some terrorists do. But you know what even though you are against god and would let people worship satan and things I know you have to love and tolerate me because your satan pony makes you.
People U need to love God and let him into your heart. He is your maker not crazy monkeys or satan.

These kind of people make me hate religion.
'You don't believe in my religion, I'll try to debunk your facts with silly accusations relating nothing to anything.'

I can't think of anything else...my logic is just violated....

Can I shoot him now?

 

[WorriedSandwich]

A quote I picked up some time ago, can't remember who it's from.

'I don't believe in evolution, I understand it.'

 

[Daystar Clarion]

This thread is still going?

I hope you're proud of yourselves.

OT: Like someone has already said, a theory in science is about as close to 100% proving something as you can get.

Evolution is observed in bacteria, in viruses, fossil records etc.

Gravity is 'only a theory' too, but I don't see people jumping out of windows ¬_¬

 

[FalloutJack]

Essentially, people who say this aren't open-minded enough to consider the notion that...if there is a god, then he {A} is capable of science on a level that Arthur C. Clarke predicted (indistinguishable from magic) and thus handled universal creation and evolution and not just simply pop-magic. The bible is what you would call an explanation for being from one higher to one who would be struggling like hell for understanding because he's not nearly as bright. Ergo, a myth to explain what was incapable of being understood. There's probably some truth to account for ALL myths out there somewhere. This all comes out of SOMETHING. It's just that some of them are just stories and others are the basis for a religion. But you have people who are, let's face it, kind of jerky that won't open up to new concepts.

 

[Quaxar]

Anyone who has done more in depth studying may be able to answer a question for me though. Are apes our only living relative or just our closest? I'm just curious when apes shared a common ancestor with a fish or a dolphin, if the current model is as flawless as some say it is it should work the same all the way back to the origin of all life. Or does it only provide a link a link between man and ape? Which is just a sliver of our evolutionary history.

EVERYTHING is a living relative if you want to get technical. But they certainly are closest in terms of evolutionary nearest. Let me illustrate that with the classic tree of life.
http://www.daviddarling.info/images/primate_family_tree.gif
I like that one. It's colourful.
It's only the primate order but you can more or less go back to bigger and bigger graphs if you want broader ancestry. Keep in mind though that you might find different illustrations in parts because some people tend to put classifications together differently.

I don't think that quite addresses the question I had. I have seen more precise charts on evolution but nothing as accurate as the man/ape model that provides a model for all species just that of a link between man and ape and/or other primates. If the current model of evolution is so accurate then it should be able to be applied to all forms of life that possess DNA. If not then we may only be dealing with 1% or less of the whole picture of evolution on this planet.
It is quite a stretch to base a claim that the current evolutionary model is 100% correct on perhaps less than 1% of of the evidence of evolution. I do appreciate the reply though, I may be digger for a bigger answer than the world can provide at this point.
To address the OP sometimes it seems that most evolutionary theory is used, not by the researchers but mainly by individuals to disprove creationism more than actually provide a clear picture of the origin of life on this planet. I think that may be why so many hardline creationists try to find ways to deny or discount evolutionary theory. Maybe we need to step away from the "see you are wrong" attitude and try "look what we found, what do you think?" for a change. Also I don't see the harm in people believing in creation if it makes them happy.

Apparently I misunderstood you, sorry then.

So you are looking for evolutionary charts on all animals that are as precise as the hominid ones? That might not be easy to find simply for the fact that there is a seperate branch of biology, anthropology, that only focuses on humans and then there's a "rest" who more or less have to do the other evolutionary charts on the whole animal kingdom. And generally speaking human evolution has always been more favoured and funded for obvious reasons.
But on the other hand we do have the field of genetics where we don't need any fossils and can simply compare the DNA codes to a degree that we can find certain grades of relation in all living beings. Even if we didn't have a single fossil genetics would be enough to perfectly support the theory of evolution.

Have we actually seen the change though?

Maybe not with mudskippers, but we've seen changes in laboratory environments, and Darwin saw it within his own lifetime.

You're free to not "fully believe" it all you want, but it's on par with not believing other observable phenomena. Do you not fully believe in fire or gravity?

I think you're confusing natural selection with evolution.

I think you are confusing how evolution works. Natural selection is an essential part of change over time.
And anyway, we have also observed changes not accounted for in the original genetic code.

 

[Something Amyss]

I think you're confusing natural selection with evolution.

I think you're trying to dodge obvious evidence simply because it's inconvenient.

you missed the point. When someone raises an argument for something you believe in, you're less likely to give it the proper critical analysis, so what can seem like irrefutable proof to you, is just more of the same to others.

Speak for yourself, John.

Besides, since when is not believing in something because you have questions about it a bad thing?

Strawman.

 

[Something Amyss]

Evolution is observed in bacteria, in viruses, fossil records etc.

Don't forget Pokémon!

...What? That's pretty much what anti-evolutionists seem to think Darwin believed...

 

[Nimzabaat]

Yet in this very thread, people who challenge science are being accused of stupidity, narrow-mindedness etc.

It could be because, you know, the form of the challenge suggests as much.

I agree! It seems to be the weapon of choice for both sides

If by both sides you mean 'Creationists' and 'Creationists' instead of some silly attempt to equate science with pseudoscience.

Ah, the "I know you are but what am I?" defense. I haven't heard that one since elementary school. It is an excellent example of what we were discussing though.

You guys (everybody) should check out Neil Degrasse Tyson on youtube. He's smart enough to enlighten on many points without having to be dumb enough to say he's absolutely certain about things.

 

[fwiffo]

Sorry I'm late to the thread but somebody already mentioned eyes right? I thought eyes were one thing evolution had trouble explaining.

btw I believe in evolution, just don't hear people mention eyes very often.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

I always thought evolution was about diversity and those that were most suited for the environment would survive, procreate, and those advance traits would live on.

So that every single quirky thing about anybody, like those who have bomb shelters or arsenals of weapons, might help them survive in some weird apocalyptic situation. And then it would be us, the masses, who would all die and those quirky stuff was indeed the right instincts and so we should be thankful for such diversity because it meant humanity survived.

Maybe that's off on some other idea.

But! You should really be thinking if you were put in their shoes and had the life that they had instead of the one you had now.....would you think any differently?

 

[Something Amyss]

Sorry I'm late to the thread but somebody already mentioned eyes right? I thought eyes were one thing evolution had trouble explaining.

btw I believe in evolution, just don't hear people mention eyes very often.

I've seen this claim quite frequently, but never seen any proof for the (so-called) difficulty in explaining them. We have examples of primitive eyes, and a developmental path from basically simple photoreceptors to the complex kind of vision humans have. What is this difficulty explaining eyes?

 

[Frission]

Evolution is as undeniable as gravity in terms of the evidence; and if the current theory of evolution is 'wrong', it'll be wrong in the same way as Newton's original theory of gravity - inaccurate but still a great approximation for every day use.

You can see the effects of gravity, you can perform experiments to show how gravity works. You can not do this with evolution. In fact for the average person you pretty much have to accept it on blind faith because a book told you so, which is not so much different from doing what the Bible says. In some ways evolution is like theoritical physics. A lot of thought and knowledge behind them, but nothing that is tangible or can be shown. Science is USUALLY tangible, either directly or indirectly.

Now, it does weird me out that there are a lot of people who take the bible literally instead of a book of stories to each us moral lessons and whatnot.

No, we have performed experiments. Look, I know I'm repeating myself, but a "theory" in science has some pretty solid information behind it. Heck, there's probably some in this thread or if you bothered to google. Heck google up Gregor Mendel. Do some actual research. Can you see atoms? Can you see the hydrogen bonds that make water? Of course not, but we can know they exist from certain properties it possess. Can you the electrons that are helping to power your computer right now? The argument that you won't believe what you can't see is stupid. Evolution is nothing like some baseless hypothesis.

It's okay if you don't understand it, but don't tar it under the same brush as religion.

OP: In my personal opinion evolution is a basic cornerstone. The fact that there's still a "Controversy" over it speaks very badly of the educational system.

EDIT: This is grade school stuff! All you need to do is read and inform yourself!

Why in the world are people still rejecting evolution?

 

[Nimzabaat]

Absolute certainty - as in absolute absolute - is a notion that's completely useless and one that's better thrown right out of your head.

Evolution - change over time - is a fact as much as any other fact is a fact.

Thanks for tearing down your own argument, it saves me time. What bothers me about evolutionists is that their prophets (scientists) admit that evolution is a theory. They admit that at any moment they could stumble across a tablet saying "Mike, make sure to put some more dinosaur bones here - Gabe. PS make sure you clean up all these tables, the big guy doesn't want any found lol". They admit that, however unlikely, something could disprove the theory. Then you get their followers, who as soon as the theory is brought into question start screaming out "heretic!!!!". While I generally accept the theory of evolution, I can't get behind people who are so much more narrow-minded then their own prophets.

It boils down to two sides claiming that a small group of people have lied/misled a larger group of people about how life came to be. Neither side wants to admit that it could be their small group though.

 

[ZorroFonzarelli]

I am a devout Christian who believes in the concept of Evolution. And, for that matter, gravity.

Having said that, to answer the initial question one must remember the core aspect of any religion: Faith. Faith is not reason, and if one has Faith in something, reason cannot compel them to shed it. Way it is.

Forcing one's "reason" upon others is just as immoral as one forcing their "Faith" on others.

Also, remember that Science is not Fact. The core aspect of Science is "We Don't Know". Even gravity is a Law, not a Fact (in scientific terms). Science cannot "Prove" anything - something it ironically shares with Religion.

For my part, I see Science as the "Study of How God Did It". If improving oneself over time is a core virtue of most religions, honestly, why wouldn't it be something biologically built into humanity (Evolution) by its Creator?

 

[Ragsnstitches]

This thread is still going?

I hope you're proud of yourselves.

OT: Like someone has already said, a theory in science is about as close to 100% proving something as you can get.

Evolution is observed in bacteria, in viruses, fossil records etc.

Gravity is 'only a theory' too, but I don't see people jumping out of windows ¬_¬

I've heard of people jumping out of windows... I'm pretty sure even they were anticipating gravity would kick in.

... wow. That was grim. I'm so sorry. I'll take my leave now:

 

[mattttherman3]

Hey guys come on don't let this thing make you enemies just know that God is right and loves you both. When u talk about sceince there are many things that the scientists don't know and when you ask them they say ' I don't know' and if you say to them prove that God does not exist they will look at you like crazy because God is real and everyone knows that.
Listen, it is ok with me that you want to believe that you are made of monkeys because Jesus says forgive people for stuff and I will pray that you not to go to hell. I dont think God will send you there but he will really be like "I made you to be you and monkeys to be monkeys how can you get mixed up like that have you ever seen a cat or a dog become a person threw all the million of years?" And you will say "No." and God will say that is because I wantd cats and dogs to be like that and monkeys are not you.
Science is afraid sometimes of not saying we are all monkeys because if they dont act like they know it all people might think some other thigns they say aren't right as well.

Not really what evolution is. I mean sure, everything living on this planet shares some kind of DNA for sure, but that's because we live on this planet. We did not evolve from monkeys, we evolved from lesser humans. This is fact. Being closed minded to new ideas is a freightening thing to see. Also, if God loves me, why do I go to hell if I don't worship him? If he loves us, why did he commit genocide during the great flood? Why does god care if 2 men or 2 women have sex? You can't answer these questions, because you can't give me an answer that makes sense. I'm guessing it's along the lines of: "God works in mysterious ways" or "because It's GOD's will" Sorry, not good enough.

 

[zzkill]

I for one can belive that humans evolved from primates, but I can't belive that we reached this stage from single celular organisms through evolution. It is a gap that natural selection doesn't bridge, so I can only think that something else happened. Really weird mutations, creationism, even aliens can fit this. But that was the begining, the rest was evolution. Not to mention the whole Adam and Eve story is the bigest crap I have heard. Really? Two people resulted in 7 billion, with multiple racial differences and no genetical dissorders? Incest along, let us say, 5 generations destroys that family line but we are supposed to all share the same ancestors...

Now I think there is a more important question that we should put: why the blody hell do we need to know how life began? It is pretty much the same as how the universe came to be. A nice philosophical mind food, but not much more than that. After all, just as knowing how the universe was created doesn't help us one bit (we won't create another one ourselves), I don't see how the birth of mankind is of such importance to divide people. But I am just a cynical prick, so what do I know.

 

[Ryotknife]

Evolution is as undeniable as gravity in terms of the evidence; and if the current theory of evolution is 'wrong', it'll be wrong in the same way as Newton's original theory of gravity - inaccurate but still a great approximation for every day use.

You can see the effects of gravity, you can perform experiments to show how gravity works. You can not do this with evolution. In fact for the average person you pretty much have to accept it on blind faith because a book told you so, which is not so much different from doing what the Bible says. In some ways evolution is like theoritical physics. A lot of thought and knowledge behind them, but nothing that is tangible or can be shown. Science is USUALLY tangible, either directly or indirectly.

Now, it does weird me out that there are a lot of people who take the bible literally instead of a book of stories to each us moral lessons and whatnot.

No, we have performed experiments. Look, I know I'm repeating myself, but a "theory" in science has some pretty solid information behind it. Heck, there's probably some in this thread or if you bothered to google. Heck google up Gregor Mendel. Do some actual research. Can you see atoms? Can you see the hydrogen bonds that make water? Of course not, but we can know they exist from certain properties it possess. Can you the electrons that are helping to power your computer right now? The argument that you won't believe what you can't see is stupid. Evolution is nothing like some baseless hypothesis.

It's okay if you don't understand it, but don't tar it under the same brush as religion.

OP: In my personal opinion evolution is a basic cornerstone. The fact that there's still a "Controversy" over it speaks very badly of the educational system.

EDIT: This is grade school stuff! All you need to do is read and inform yourself!

Why in the world are people still rejecting evolution?

you can see the effects of the stuff that you mention, evolution takes place over millions of years. And yes, I do understand evolution.

Also...why do you care so much if people believe in evolution or not? it is a minor issue. I dont see it interfering with science. Calm the F down. People have a right to their religious beliefs (so long as they dont hurt/interfere anyone).

Not to mention, I would imagine that most creationists are of the older generation. I know of plenty of 40+ creationists, but as for youths the only ones ive seen are from hardcore religious families. This is...probably...an issue that will alleviate itself over time, especially as more and more info and knowledge about evolution is revealed. The Bible has kinda hit a wall in that area

not to mention with atheism and agnosticism rapidly rising, this is a non-issue.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Thanks for tearing down your own argument, it saves me time. What bothers me about evolutionists is that their prophets (scientists) admit that evolution is a theory. They admit that at any moment they could stumble across a tablet saying "Mike, make sure to put some more dinosaur bones here - Gabe. PS make sure you clean up all these tables, the big guy doesn't want any found lol". They admit that, however unlikely, something could disprove the theory. Then you get their followers, who as soon as the theory is brought into question start screaming out "heretic!!!!". While I generally accept the theory of evolution, I can't get behind people who are so much more narrow-minded then their own prophets.

It boils down to two sides claiming that a small group of people have lied/misled a larger group of people about how life came to be. Neither side wants to admit that it could be their small group though.

Please look up what a scientific theory is. It was mentioned several times in this thread and you obviously have no idea what it is - I won't repeat it again either.

See here is what you are not understanding; it's just things that people have said/written. Unless you can personally verify it, you are just believing someone else or "having faith". You are "having faith" that there is evidence and facts out there. You can't verify these "facts" yourself. I have seen dinosaur bones but I can't prove that they belonged to a living animal and I can't prove how old they are. I have to accept that information or reject it based on my own personal bias and experience. I'd normally take the evolutionist side in an argument like this, but all the pseudo-intellectuals waving their digital pitchforks are making that side just as distasteful as the other. Never stop thinking.

 

[HannesPascal]

I for one can belive that humans evolved from primates, but I can't belive that we reached this stage from single celular organisms through evolution. It is a gap that natural selection doesn't bridge, so I can only think that something else happened.

Actually this one is fairly simple (wasn't meant to sound condescending). Many single celled organisms are clumped together and cooperate by releasing chemicals to their surrounding (like for example the bacteria Staphlycoccus aureus). Organisms that do this increases their chance of survival and with time this became more and more complex resulting in multicellular organisms. The "stage" in evolution that is unknown is how life was created but that's not really a part of evolution.