Why are Christians so threatened by evolution?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Africans were the first race, Hebrews are the first white race. Lucy's exoskeleton was founded well before Genesis

I take Genesis and Revelations as prophecy

[SnowLabrador]

Because it disproves Adam and Eve, which means that there's no need for Jesus. I'm a gnostic atheist - I KNOW there is no God.

[Badger]

“Christians” is broad, and many aren’t.

This. On a side note, Christmas Eve before this past one I spent with my father's family in a blue color inner ring Pittsburgh suburb where he grew up. My uncle, his wife, my aunt, along with me by wife and my kids went to Christmas Eve service at the church down the hill. I believe it was the one my aunt infrequently attended. Can't remember which Protestant denomination. However, I do recall that during the sermon the pastor somehow, weirdly in a Christmas Eve sermon, dropped in evolution and spoke about how when forced to choose between God and science he will choose God happily.

Being raised Catholic and then converting to Mainline protestantism as an adult, this was just plain weird.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Because evolution decentres our understanding of humanity's place in the universe away from humanity ordained at its centre from the beginning of time, to humanity as the random outcome of a naturalistic process in the very, very recent past.

[Wazza [INACTIVE]]

Creationism is really only prevalent amongst Evangelical protestants, because unlike mainline Protestants and Catholics they have a literalistic interpretation of the Bible which comes into direct conflict with (especially recent) scientific discovery. I was raised Catholic and attended a Catholic school, kids are taught not to take the creation stories literally and I never met anyone who was a creationist.

[The Salad Days]

It's not just that some Christians have a POV that is dominated by the belief that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible WORD OF GOD.  It is impossible to reconcile the propositions that evolution is true and that Genesis is literal history.   That's a symptom, not the root cause of why such people have a problem with evolution.

Gen 2:7 "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground"

I don't see how that excludes evolution...unless the theory of evolution is claiming humans aren't made up of material from the earth.

Come to think of it, it strikes me as profound that the book of Genesis, as old as it is, accurately states that the flesh of man is made of stuff from the earth.

[afleitch]

For those who are, it's because man is supposed to have fallen. Evolution is contrary to that.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's not just that some Christians have a POV that is dominated by the belief that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible WORD OF GOD.  It is impossible to reconcile the propositions that evolution is true and that Genesis is literal history.   That's a symptom, not the root cause of why such people have a problem with evolution.

Gen 2:7 "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground"

I don't see how that excludes evolution...unless the theory of evolution is claiming humans aren't made up of material from the earth.

Come to think of it, it strikes me as profound that the book of Genesis, as old as it is, accurately states that the flesh of man is made of stuff from the earth.

Six days or even six million years ain't exactly enuf time for evolution to work.

[Kleine Scheiße]

Most Christians -- and this is not related to their being Christian, but instead to their being human -- do not identify with their beliefs, but internalize them. If you reject the distinction between self and nonself, this is no issue. Most people do not; and at that point, treating nonself things as part of the self creates insecurity, loathing, and delusions of grandeur.

[The Salad Days]

It's not just that some Christians have a POV that is dominated by the belief that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible WORD OF GOD.  It is impossible to reconcile the propositions that evolution is true and that Genesis is literal history.   That's a symptom, not the root cause of why such people have a problem with evolution.

Gen 2:7 "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground"

I don't see how that excludes evolution...unless the theory of evolution is claiming humans aren't made up of material from the earth.

Come to think of it, it strikes me as profound that the book of Genesis, as old as it is, accurately states that the flesh of man is made of stuff from the earth.

Six days or even six million years ain't exactly enuf time for evolution to work.

Aren't you making the same mistake as the young earthers - blindly assuming each word can have only a single meaning?  That's not how language works.  In reality, the vast majority of words have multiple meanings.  

I guarantee you that neither you nor the young earthers walk around in life interpreting words to have only a single meaning.  When words have multiple meanings, context defines which definition is being used.  

In examining the context of the world "day" within the creation account....the context certainly doesn't start off as a solar day (24 hrs) because the creation of the sun and moon isn't mentioned until the 4th "day".  

Another misconception is that biblical accounts must be either allegorical or historical, but not both.  But it is easy to see that the bible interprets itself in most cases as being both historical and allegorical.  

In fact, interpreting it as only historical ignores the fact God is laying out a plan.  And interpreting it as only allegorical ignores the power of God.  In fact, you can believe in the historical fact of Jesus' death without believing in God.  On the other extreme, some people claim to be Christians yet only view Christ's death and resurrection as allegorical and not historical events...which is tantamount to saying they don't believe in his death and resurrection.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's not just that some Christians have a POV that is dominated by the belief that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible WORD OF GOD.  It is impossible to reconcile the propositions that evolution is true and that Genesis is literal history.   That's a symptom, not the root cause of why such people have a problem with evolution.

Gen 2:7 "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground"

I don't see how that excludes evolution...unless the theory of evolution is claiming humans aren't made up of material from the earth.

Come to think of it, it strikes me as profound that the book of Genesis, as old as it is, accurately states that the flesh of man is made of stuff from the earth.

Six days or even six million years ain't exactly enuf time for evolution to work.

Aren't you making the same mistake as the young earthers - blindly assuming each word can have only a single meaning?  That's not how language works.  In reality, the vast majority of words have multiple meanings.  

I guarantee you that neither you nor the young earthers walk around in life interpreting words to have only a single meaning.  When words have multiple meanings, context defines which definition is being used.  

In examining the context of the world "day" within the creation account....the context certainly doesn't start off as a solar day (24 hrs) because the creation of the sun and moon isn't mentioned until the 4th "day".  

Another misconception is that biblical accounts must be either allegorical or historical, but not both.  But it is easy to see that the bible interprets itself in most cases as being both historical and allegorical.  

In fact, interpreting it as only historical ignores the fact God is laying out a plan.  And interpreting it as only allegorical ignores the power of God.  In fact, you can believe in the historical fact of Jesus' death without believing in God.  On the other extreme, some people claim to be Christians yet only view Christ's death and resurrection as allegorical and not historical events...which is tantamount to saying they don't believe in his death and resurrection.

Which is precisely why I said it was impossible to reconcile it with it being literal history. I was literally using the word literal literally, not figuratively. I agree it's a mistake to interpret Genesis that way, but that's precisely how the young earthers threatened by evolution interpret Genesis.

[All Along The Watchtower]

This thread wouldn't be complete without pointing out that the single largest organization of Christians in the world, the Roman Catholic Church, 100% accepts evolution, although they argue that the process was guided by God to the eventual result. Question should be "why are Protestants so threatened by evolution?"

Evangelical* Protestants.  Flat out guarantee you that Mainline Protestants believe in evolution at a higher rate than Catholics.

Implying that "Evangelical" and "Mainline" are mutually exclusive...

[All Along The Watchtower]

For those who are, it's because man is supposed to have fallen. Evolution is contrary to that.

Is it?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

For those who are, it's because man is supposed to have fallen. Evolution is contrary to that.

Is it?

Depends on how you view the fall. I always thought of it as mankind realizing that if we all followed a Hobbesian course of always seeking to maximize our own self interest, it makes us rather brutish creatures that need to always be afraid of everyone else. Viewed that way, the fall from Eden is not contrary to evolution at all.

[WoodlandAscetic]

Evolution is threatening to more fundamentalist readings of Genesis. I think this a natural outgrowth of the Protestant Reformation and Enlightenment as it destabilized religious views being founded on tradition and instead focused on reason. Thus there was a split between Liberal Christians who tried to align their beliefs with the generally accepted scientific theories and the Fundamentalist Christians who tried to used the Bible in a similar way to how people often try to use science.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I've never understood why evangelicals are so triggered by a proven fact.

Aren't you the guy who thinks that serious head injuries in e.g. American Football cause no longterm problems?

[Associate Justice PiT]

I've never understood why evangelicals are so triggered by a proven fact.

Aren't you the guy who thinks that serious head injuries in e.g. American Football cause no longterm problems?

     Actually he wanted research and media coverage on CTE suppressed because it could hurt the NFL, which is even more on the nose.

[DPKdebator]

As a practicing Catholic, I can say that the idea of Christians being "threatened" by evolution is ridiculous. I've never seen anyone get all bent out of shape over the issue. Let's look at a 2017 poll from Gallup:

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38% of overall respondents hold creationist beliefs. Certain groups have higher rates of creationist beliefs, but the only one where it dominates is among weekly church attendees. There is a good deal of people who are creationists, but it's not some dominant majority among Christians as a whole. Among the creationists, I doubt that most of them would feel "threatened" by the concept of evolution. I disagree with creationism, but the idea that most creationists will become deranged if told about evolution is absurd.

I really don't see what the point of this thread is, other than to grandstand by stereotyping Christians as a bunch of anti-science people. If I wanted to be equally edgy I could make a thread asking something along the lines of "why are pro-abortion people evil baby murderers?" and I would rightfully be criticized for distorting the views of pro-choice people.

[RINO Tom]

According to Pew, this is how belief in evolution (simplified as all three "believe in evolution" categories added together) breaks down by denomination:

Presbyterians (MP): 70%
Non-Denominational Mainline Protestants (MP): 70%
Congregationalists (MP): 69%
Lutherans (MP): 67%
All Catholics: 66%
All Mainline Protestants: 64%
Methodists (MP): 61%
All Orthodox Christians: 59%
ALL CHRISTIANS: 54%
Baptists (BP): 51%
All Historically Black Protestants: 47%
Restorationists (EP): 46%
Pentecostals (BP): 43%
All Mormons: 40%
All Evangelical Christians: 38%
Baptists (EP): 38%
Non-Denominational Evangelicals (EP): 34%
Pentecostals (EP): 33%
All Jehovah's Witnesses: 21%

So, Wolverine, a literal majority of Christians aren't threatened by evolution, and disbelief in it (which absolutely does not equate to "threatened by") is mostly confined to evangelical denominations, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.

[Antonio the Sixth]

For those who are, it's because man is supposed to have fallen. Evolution is contrary to that.

Actually, it's remarkably easy to reconcile a naturalistic history of human evolution with the concept of the Fall of Man. Rousseau basically did it almost a century before Darwin's discoveries.

To answer the OP, I suspect that the real reason is a lack of imagination born out of cultural subalternity to the secular-materialist ethos. Many Christians wish to break from a mindset that they perceive (rightly) as fundamentally hostile to their faith and communities, but, especially in a country like the US, they are too drenched in this materialistic framework to be able to imagine a genuine alternative to it (like Christians did for most of history, where they had no issue accepting scientific findings because science knew its place and hadn't become the organizing principle of society). So, instead, they resort to venting their impotent rage at it by stubbornly rejecting empirically observable facts. Creationism is, at heart, the expression of a weak and decaying culture.