Reconciling Religion and Evolution, Cont.

In last week’s comment, I noted the passage of the two hundredth anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the struggle to reconcile evolution with religious beliefs and the idea that humans are “special.” Because that question is so central to our understanding of the world, I return to it today. How do we resolve this problem? To get started, consider widely accepted facts about the origins and development of life.

The Big Bang occurred around 14 billion years ago, and earth was formed about ten billion years later. After another billion years or so, very primitive forms of life developed on earth and evolved into the vast array of plants and animals we see around us, including ourselves. Our earliest ancestors in the genus “homo,” homo habilis, probably developed around 2.4 million years ago, followed by homo erectus, which appeared about 1.8 million years ago. Our species, homo sapiens, has existed for perhaps 250,000 years. Two other members of the genus homo, Neanderthals and homo floresiensis, were probably branches off the evolutionary chain that led to homo sapiens. Homo erectus survived until around 70,000 years ago, and Neanderthals may have lived as recently as 30,000 years ago, before they became extinct. Homo floresiensis, may have developed after homo sapiens and become extinct as recently as twelve thousand years ago. In other words, the story of human evolution is one of development and extinction. Our vulnerability to disease, violence and climate change make it quite possible that some day we will also be extinct.

To their credit, The Catholic Church and some Protestant denominations have made a serious effort to find an accommodation between evolution and religion. Are they on the right track? The position of the Catholic Church appears to be that God controlled the process of evolution to create a special species, homo sapiens. The problem with that approach is the overwhelming scientific evidence that development of all species, including our own, has been driven by random mutation and natural selection. The process that led to homo sapiens is the same one that led to dinosaurs, birds, and earthworms.

The Church of England, on the other hand, appears to have accepted the full, unvarnished implications of evolution. It has devoted a section of its website to Darwin. An essay on the website explains its position:[1] "[While] it is not difficult to see why evolutionary thinking was offensive at the time, on reflection it is not such an earth-shattering idea. Yes, Christians believe that God became incarnate as a human being in the person of Jesus and thereby demonstrated God’s especial love for humanity. But how can that special relationship be undermined just because we develop a different understanding of the processes by which humanity came to be?"

Although that excerpt is somewhat ambiguous, I believe the author means that God had nothing to do with the process of evolution and, by implication, the creation of any living species. However, once God noticed that an intelligent species had evolved on earth, perhaps the only place that development occurred in the universe, he concluded that this species is special. He then decided to reveal himself to these creatures, get involved in their lives, and love them.

The Church of England should be commended for accepting the scientific evidence about how evolution has actually occurred. However, the Church’s account paints a strange picture of God as a supreme being who sits on the sidelines of the universe until natural selection happens to result in an intelligent species that warrants his involvement, at least after humans have been around for 250,000 years or so. He then decides to reveal himself as Jesus in order to show how much he cares for these beings. That conception of God is neither intellectually convincing nor emotionally satisfying.

Despite its sincere efforts, the approach of the Church of England will not help us to come to terms with development of human beings. We are not special because a divine mind made us the ultimate result of an evolutionary process, nor are we special because a supreme being noticed that we are an intelligent species worthy of his love. As I explain in The Uncertain Believer, we are special because we are the only species, on earth at least, with the capacity to understand our place in the universe. We are special because we have the ability to develop a conception of God that makes sense in the twenty-first century.

[1] Good Religion Needs Good Science,” by Rev Dr. Malcolm Brown, the Director of Mission and Public Affairs.