COLUMN: Grandma was wrong; evolution isn’t evilution
Evolution and Mormonism. Many of you may have seen this advertisement hanging in the Taggart Student Center. You may have been surprised or even angry after seeing it. This is not an attempt to raise animosity, but to promote understanding and tolerance.
As a representative of science students, I am obligated to do things that appeal to the majority, which is the point of this lecture.
Approximately 85 percent of students at USU are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). The majority of science students are studying biology. Evolution is the foundation of biology. As Theodosius Dobzhansky said, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” Thus, I am targeting both the majority of my college and the university’s population.
There has been much conflict in regards to the theory of evolution and its implications. I am not a religious person, but I have many friends and family members who are. Those who are religious believe in a supreme being, a creator. Science seeks to explain things in the realm of the empirical. These ideologies often conflict.
It is a common misconception that most scientists are nonreligious or atheistic. This is not the case, as the percentage of scientists who are religious is approximately similar to those who are not scientists. However, conflict does arise when someone is forced to compartmentalize their mind. How does a religious person, in this case a Mormon, remain faithful and still practice empiricism? Can a person believe in both evolution and a deity? There are those who do.
Trent Stephens is a professor of evolutionary biology and an LDS bishop. Stephens will be presenting a discourse this Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in the TSC International Lounge. He, along with many other LDS biologists, find no conflict between the theory of evolution and their religion. Brigham Young University has the largest evolutionary biology department in Utah. They opine that conflict doesn’t arise from LDS doctrine or theory, but from culture.
Many people know no more about evolution than the common misconception that humans came from monkeys. We did not evolve from monkeys. We don’t think like monkeys and probably shouldn’t act like monkeys. The species Homo sapiens arose via a gradation of hominid precursors to our present state. Many feel that this is too lowly a view for humanity and that it gives rise to another common misconception, eloquently phrased by my protestant grandmother, “Evolution is ‘evil’ution.”
Can a religious person believe in evolution and still believe in God? From Aristotle to Aquinas, the fundamental ontology of human nature is the soul body distinction. This has remained a keystone in religious thought. Though I do not believe in a soul, I respect those who do, because it is a belief that cannot be disproved. The view that evolution resulted in the body of mankind, and souls were infused into them via deity, is a common one among religious scientists. As a friend of mine once put it: “Sometimes it’s okay to believe in things you cannot see, but you should still believe in what you can.”
Evolution for all intents and purposes is a theory of change. Change has persisted throughout time as life changes to thrive in new environments. So as Galileo searched the heavens, in spite of theological objections, so do scientists today try to understand life through the principles of science, especially evolution.
Steve Skinner is the ASUSU science senator. Comments can be sent to stevedennis@cc.usu.edu.