Can't Creationists also be Evolutionists?

[JohnLocke]

I believe that evolution was all part of God's plan for the universe and there is no contradiction between religion and science.

[vi5]

1. My parents believe that.....

They are devout Catholics and they believe exactly what you said. That evolution was a part of God's master plan.

Personally I'm an atheist but I've always respected their balancing of their faith and science.

[Djinn]

2. Not if you beleive ANYTHING in the Bible

I'm happy to accept that God kicked off the evolutionary chain but if we beleive that then the credibility of the story that the bible is "god's word" is surely down the drain

Either it IS the word of God (and somehow we managed millions upon millions of year of evolutionary change in 6000 years) or it isn't and we can't pick and choose which bits we take literally, which bits we take figuritively and which bits we completely discard (like the punishments for those wearing two different types of cloth for example)

[DarkPhenyx]

3. Read "Riding a Pale Horse"

They talk about how God created the Earth and Satan caused it to evolve. It's an interesting theory, however the rest of the Creationist Theory is still in direct contridiction to the key parts of Evolutionary, Celestial Mechanic, and Geologic Theories.

[ablbodyed]

4. You're right of course....

There is nothing in evolution that precludes creation. THERE NEVER WAS. It's been used incorrectly by the religious (no name used, because any that I might use are unobjective and raise objections, even on this BOARD) for their own benefit. If God is immortal than time has no meaning to him/her/it, so that creating the world/universe through a process (that we only imperfectly understand) is just as much creation as an instantaneous nothing into SOMETHING. And I think that it shows even MORE love for humanity that there is a process that we're able to perceive through thought and intellect, because that intellect is GOD-GIVEN and therefore what God WANTS us to use.
The idea of a literal biblical interpretation with days and such is for those who don't want to do the difficult task of thinking for themselves. And GOD KNOWS, there are farfarfar too many of them.

[CShine]

5. Some Catholic clergyman declared that...............

..........the world is about 6000 years old, and hardcore creationists have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. Nowhere does the Bible proclaim the age of the earth, but this approximate reckoning of 6000 years by that clergyman (forget his name) is treated with such holy reverence by die-hard creationists that I really think some of them believe that the 6000 year figure came straight from the mouth of God.

And to answer your question directly, yes, a Christian certainly can be an evolutionist because no part of the Bible declares the age of the earth, and no part of the Bible declares that living things are incapable of a fundamental biological change.

[NNadir]

6. Bishop Usher.

Actually I think he was Anglican, but I could be wrong about that.

[Djinn]

8. OK I havn't wasted alot of hours with the bible

but after a wee bit of checking it does seem to state that HUMANS have only existed for 6000 years although it does not claim this is the age of the earth - also states that trees came before the stars?? - also it does state we are all descendants of Adam & Eve - and I don't see how that possibly fits in with evolutionary theory:

did god make adam and eve then scrap that idea and instead made a bunch of single cell amoeba's??

There's too much interpretation: If the Bible IS the infallible word/knowledge of God then it ALL has to be taken literally (ie you have to beleive that there were trees on earth before there were stars) or you beleive that it's all the words of MAN

[NNadir]

7. No.

[JohnLocke]

12. Why not?

[NNadir]

13. A short answer.

An understanding of evolution involves observation, collection of data, data analysis, construction of theories and the comparison of those theories to the data. Data inconsistent with the theory, generally refutes (or in many cases, refines) the theory. This is the method of science.

"Creationism" offers no data, but only inspiration. It is generally not verifiable, depends on no comparison to data. The inspiration is assumed by its practioners to be irrefutable. Usually creationism involves circular reasoning.

Therefore in my opinion "creationism" and an understanding of evolution are incompatible.

[WoodrowFan]

9. Of Course

I think that's pretty close to the position of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA).

[DrWeird]

10. No.

A Creationist is a religious fundamentalist who believes in the literal interpretation of the Bible, that humans were created in their present day form 6,000 years ago in the beginning of the world.

That isn't to say that you can't both believe in evolution and that God created the universe. The Vatican believes this, for instance. The term Creationist just specifically applies to those few american nutjobs who will lie, cheat, and steal to force their own ignorant world view on other people.

[JohnLocke]

11. Um...

That's a bit of a narrow interpertation of "creationist," wouldn't you say.

[treepig]

14. sure it's narrow, but would you prefer

a broader definition based on logic such as

1. the earth and its many life-forms exist today, therefore they must have been "created" at some point in the past.

2. simply recognizing that point #1 is correct (the option would be that life always existed, and i think that everyone rejects that view) therefore means that you're a creationist!

[LSatyl]

15. Off course you can..

Being a Creationist only means that you believe that a Supernatural something created the observable Universe.

It's a mistake most people make, they hear Creationist and think Young Earther. But the Young Earth theory (i.e. the classic Bible explanation with the 6000 years old earth), is but one of the many Creation theory ( I am loathe to call these lines of thought theories, but I don't know a better word). Hindu's believe in Creation, so do Buddhists, but you'll never hear them claim the earth is only 6000 years old. Norse mythology has a Creation myth, and so do the Greek, Roman, Persian, Mayan, Aztec and Egyptian cultures. So equating Creationist with Young Earthers show a distinct Western (read Christian/Judean) bias.

Anyhoo, the Creation theory "compatible" with Evolution is mostly called ID, for Intelligent Design. In other words, one accepts the findings of the scientific world, i.e. Evolution is a proven theory, but one believes the mechanics of Evolution were started/created by a Supernatural something.

The best sites to read up on these subject (with a distinct scientific bias, in other words sceptics) are:

Talk Origins, Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy, and
Talk Design, Critically examining the "Intelligent Design" Movement

[treepig]

16. i would have to disagree with your premise

that "intelligent design" is compatible with evolution. the two systems are not even remotely compatible, in fact they're pretty much diametrically opposed - as evolution is simply a mechanism - evolutionary theory explicitly rejects the notion that there is any intelligence/direction/design (etc) at work in the molding of life over time.