God and evolution

I originally posted this to my movie blog on March 16, 2009.

I believe evolution and faith in God can be compatible. Condescending atheists who claim evolution disproves God are one of the factors for why a large portion of the population rejects the theory. There is a common belief among atheists that evolution is the only known process by which intelligence can develop and yet there were strict laws and processes in place before life even originated.

The Theory of Evolution does not apply to origins, it is basically about how DNA changes and causes new life forms to develop. Abiogenesis, which describes how inanimate matter turns into life, is currently at the hypothesis stage and even if it is ever proven, might not have anything directly to do with the process of evolution.

According to the Big Bang theory our universe had a beginning which is consistent with Genesis. The alternative viewpoint, based on conjecture as this point, claims we are just a lucky universe.  However, there would have to be trillions of universes for this claim to hold up.

Physics tells us some aspects of our universe are indeterminate and unknowable and this is the biggest problem with a strict materialist view. The process affects biology at the molecular level and causes mutations to be random and unpredictable. Evolution does not say which species will develop next.

In 2005 a survey was done of the acceptance of evolution in 34 countries. Only three of the 15 nations that were part of the communist Soviet Union were included. The highest ranked of these was Estonia at number 19. Latvia and Lithuania were both in the bottom 5.

A common misperception is that the issue has been divided between enlightened liberals and ignorant conservatives. Last year a Gallup poll found acceptance of evolution was held by 36% of Republicans, 55% of Independents, and 56% of Democrats.

There were 20 or fewer copies made of the works by Herodotus, Thucydides, Tacitus, Caesar's Gallic Wars, and Livy's History of Rome and the earliest surviving copies are between 900 to 1300 years after the events, but are still considered historically valid. There were nearly 25,000 copies made of the original New Testament and most of the surviving manuscripts were written soon after the events.