Evolution and Christianity

Compatible or at odds with each other?

Rev. David Jenkins, Superintendent Minister of Aylesbury Vale Methodist Circuit, in a recent sermon “Life evolving” (printed in full on this website) spoke on how there are widespread misapprehensions regarding what many Christians actually believe. It is often assumed that most Christians are “Creationists”, believing that human beings emerged six days after the universe was formed.  Creationism is growing in extent and influence, both in the UK and elsewhere. About 10% of British adults believe that the earth is only some 10,000 years old. In America about 40% of adults believe that, whereas the overwhelming majority of scientists believe the universe is of the order of 13-14 billion years old. By contrast, says Rev. Jenkins, the chapter of Genesis was never intended to be read as a scientific text, but as a wonderful picture, poem and story of God the Creator putting the creative process into being, sustaining and watching over its development. That doesn’t in any way contrast with the theory of evolution.

The new atheists, of whom Richard Dawkins is the best known example, keep claiming that “evolution equals atheism”. But evolution can fit comfortably in almost any worldview, including that of Christianity. If there is a personal God who has intentions and purposes for creation, then we would expect order and direction and the emergence of personality and this is precisely what the theory of evolution says is happening.

Charles Darwin’s birth 200 years ago and the publication of “The Origin of Species” 150 years ago cause us to look afresh at how life and faith are understood today. The simplistic battle between science and religion is a false one. Scientific research developed from the faith community and complements faith. For much of human history, science and religion have enjoyed a harmonious dialogue. Darwin himself did not consider the choice between faith and science to be inevitable, and throughout his life he maintained a respectful dialogue between biology and theology. Writing to a friend of his he said, “I hardly see how religion and science can be kept distinct. There is no reason why the disciples of either school should attack each other with bitterness”.

Evolution is nothing like as chancy a process as is popularly believed. Although there are constant elements of chance in evolution, taken overall it is far from being a chance process. There is considerable convergence taking place which suggests that the emergence of intelligence was very probable, if not inevitable. To Darwin himself it was “an impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man, as the result of blind chance or necessity. I feel compelled to look for a First Cause having an intelligent mind.”

Darwin discloses a world which is awe-inspiring in its complexity, its creativity and its extravagance. At the end of the first edition of “The Origin of Species” he wrote, “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers-from so simple a beginning, endless forms, most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

The sermon explores implications of the theory of evolution for how God interacts with the world and of our significance as human beings. Rev. Jenkins says that for some people within the church there was a considerable level of interest that this whole area of life is being discussed and taken seriously. It seems important that, if there are widespread misunderstandings in society as a whole, they should be challenged.