LETTER: Don’t be Alarmed on Evolution

Editor,

I was in attendance at last month’s excellent presentation on “Evolution and Mormonism” by Trent Stephens, a biology professor and LDS bishop. Based on one of my fellow church members’ negative reaction to the presentation, I can’t help but respond.

The writer states that he “was shocked because (Mr. Stephens) stated that there was no reason for Mormonism and evolution to conflict with each other.” The writer goes on to implore us to “follow the prophet” – always great advice. Here’s what the prophet (in this case Joseph F. Smith) had to say on evolution: “Whether the mortal bodies of man evolved in natural processes to present perfection … whether the first parents of our generations, Adam and Eve, were transplanted from another sphere … are questions not fully answered in the revealed word of God” [Improvement Era 13:570 (April 1910)].

Later that year, Smith reported in the annual Christmas message: “Our religion is not hostile to real science. That which is demonstrated, we accept with joy” [Deseret Evening News Dec. 17, 1910, p. 3.]. Many years after that, the first presidency concluded: “Our mission is to bear the message of the restored gospel to the world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology, and anthropology, none one of which has to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research.” [First Presidency Minutes, Apr. 7, 1931] In more recent times, President David O. McKay wrote to professor William Lee Stokes of the University of Utah: “On the subject of organic evolution the Church has officially taken no position.” [Dialogue 12:90-92 (Winter 1979)]

All of these statements by the prophets leave ample room for conjecture regarding the use of the principles of organic evolution by God in the process of the Earth’s creation. Personally, my testimony is bolstered because the church has left it up to sound scientific principles to establish the truth of evolution. As it is stated, the glory of God is truth. That’s all Mr. Stephens was trying to accomplish.

Jason Wooden