50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God (8 page)

Some believers promote the extreme view that teaching evolution
in schools is dangerous because it encourages children to think of
themselves as "lowly" animals and gives them permission to steal,
rape, and murder. Many people have expressed this concern to me. It
is surprisingly popular. Believers seem to be sincerely worried that the
theory of evolution can turn people into savages. There is, of course,
nothing to base this on. Just consider the world's most fervent proponents of evolution-scientists. They certainly do not rape and murder
at a noticeably higher rate than anti-evolution activists. I have no data
to support it, but I would bet that the world's evolutionary scientists
are, on average, more law-abiding than most other groups of people in
the world.

This charge by believers that understanding and accepting evolution incites immorality, crime, or anarchy is nonsensical. Recognizing
that an overwhelming amount of fossil and genetic evidence shows that life-forms have changed over millions of years does not give
anyone the green light to hurt people. Believers who think that we
cannot be moral without creationism are sadly misled by the idea that
we need to have threatening gods standing over us with lightning bolts
ready to strike us down if we misbehave. People are capable of moral
behavior based on natural reasons alone. Scientists have observed apes
demonstrating sympathy and sharing in the wild. That sounds like
moral behavior to me. These "lowly animals" share and help one
another because it is natural for them to do so, because they have
learned to do so, and because it helps the group to survive. It is
unlikely that chimpanzees exhibit what appears to be moral behavior
because they believe in an ape god. If they can do it, we can do it. In
fact, humans behave morally without gods every day all around the
world. Remember, many millions of nonbelievers are alive and well
today, leading quiet, peaceful, and positive lives.

The fear and loathing of evolution by so many believers is tragic
because the story of human evolution and of all life is exciting,
inspiring, and important. We can't ever really understand ourselves or
the world around us without understanding evolution. It thrills me to
think about the long line of life that led to me. I'm uplifted by it. I certainly don't feel degraded because I came from an Australopithecus
instead of magic dirt. I am also confident that my acceptance of evolution will never lead me to kill a fellow human in order to get ahead
in life.

I once spent a couple of weeks out in the east African bush. Not a
day went by that I didn't think about the possibility that a Homo
erectus or Homo ergaster may once have stood on the same spot I was
on. I would squat down and scan the horizon, listen to the insects, and
feel the wind-maybe exactly as my distant ancestors once did. I tried
to imagine their rugged lives, their ingenious use of fire and stone
tools. I was not ashamed, diminished, or immoral. I felt proud to be
related to such fine people who did so much with so little. It is sad that
so many people never think about such things because they know so
little of the human story.

Evolution is not string theory or calculus. It is a relatively simple
concept that anyone can grasp. Evolution simply describes how life
changes over time. Contrary to creationist propaganda, evolution says
nothing directly about how life began, only how life changes. These
changes happen primarily due to (1) genetic mutation and (2) natural
selection. Genetic mutation is just a fancy phrase for little surprises
that turn up in genes. These mutations don't mean anything most of
the time. Sometimes they are bad. Occasionally, however, they give
the animal or plant a tiny advantage over others in the environment
they currently inhabit. When this happens, natural selection can occur.
Those who inherit this advantage from their parents are a little more
likely to survive, prosper, and have more offspring than those who
lack it. It might be a case where an animal is a little bit faster, a little
bit taller, longer-legged, shorter-legged, smaller, bigger, whatever is
significant in the given environment. Eventually, over many generations, individuals with this advantage could come to dominate the
species. When this goes on for millions of years it is easy to see how
gradual changes can add up to dramatic transformations.

Now, why would understanding this make anyone immoral? Who
in their right mind would see this as justification for genocide or discrimination? Evolution is not bad. It may be nature's harsh, cruel, and
indifferent way, but it's not the formula for human destruction that
misguided or dishonest people claim it is. Teaching children how life
on earth changes over time will not make them lose their minds and
turn to crime any more than teaching them that the earth revolves
around the sun did.

Evolution is a fascinating subject. It is sad that so many believers
shut it out because they wrongly assume that it is too complex to
understand or that it is a lie. They are missing out on something that
likely would enhance their appreciation for their own life and life in
general. Strangest of all, it is not even necessary to reject evolution for
one to continue believing in gods. Many believers have it stuck in their
heads that it must be one or the other. Although many religious leaders
present it that way, it's not true. There are many millions of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and other believers all over the world who
accept that evolution is real. They see the fossils in museums, hear the
sensible explanations by scientists, and are able to accept it without
letting go of their belief in a god. Scientist Francis Collins, leader of
the Human Genome Project, believes that Jesus is a real god while
simultaneously accepting that evolution is real. Of course he has no
choice but to accept evolution because his work wouldn't make any
sense otherwise. Collins was able to bend his belief around evolution
so that it conformed to the obvious reality he saw before him. Other
believers should at least go as far as Collins has. He and many others
like him show that one can believe in a god without taking up the
absurd position that life does not evolve. Believers should never allow
themselves to be misled into thinking that they must choose between
evolution and belief in a god. You can have both, as many people do.

Mayr, Ernst. What Evolution Is. New York: Basic Books, 2001. Outstanding
book on evolution by a great scientist.

Zimmer, Carl. Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea. New York: HarperCollins,
2001. This is the companion book to the PBS series of the same name.
This book is the perfect read for anyone who has doubts about evolution
or just wants to understand it more. Includes the chapter "What about
God?" which addresses the evolution-creationism controversy.

uring an interview with Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan, the
last man to walk on the moon, I asked him if he had time for
deep reflection in between the tasks on his busy schedule of exploration and setting up experiments. Cernan is one of the most eloquent
of all the early astronauts and he didn't shy away from opening up
about what he felt when he stood on the surface of the moon and
looked up at his distant home.

"When you look back at the Earth, it is so overwhelming, so powerful and beautiful," Cernan said. "The world is too beautiful to have
happened by accident. There must be something or somebody bigger
than us who put it all together. When I stood on the Moon, I stood at
a point in space and time where I witnessed science meeting its match.
Science could no longer explain what I was witnessing at that point in
time."

It is exciting to imagine how it might have felt to stand in Cernan's
boots and see the tiny earth two hundred forty thousand miles away.
Thanks to photographs taken by astronauts, we can feel at least a hint
of that experience. Beginning with the classic "Earthrise" photograph
taken from lunar orbit during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, photos of
our planet have repeatedly shown it for what it is, a glowing oasis of
life and hope in the cold blackness of space. During the Apollo 17 mis sion, Cernan's final spaceflight, one of the crew, probably Jack
Schmitt, took a brilliant photograph of the earth. Nicknamed "The
Blue Marble," the shot may be the most widely used photograph in
history-and for obvious reasons. Earth is stunningly beautiful in the
photo, with its swirling white clouds and cool blue seas. So much life,
so much potential, all contained on that little world. Observations of
the earth from space can stimulate deep thoughts and even deeper reverence. But do awe and admiration provide a good reason to conclude
that gods exist? Do the earth's complexity and beauty suggest that a
god necessarily made it? Many believers claim that this abundant
beauty reflects their god's handiwork, proof that he is real. But does
this claim hold up if one takes a long hard look at our world from
down here at ground level?

In answering claims about our world's "god-given" beauty, there
is no better place to start than with ourselves. According to many
believers, the human species is the crowning achievement of various
creator gods. The gods who made the world and all its life, they say,
warmed up with worms and birds but then made us, the piece de resistance. Some religions even claim that we were made in a god's image.

Beautiful?

Us?

If we were designed and created by an all-powerful, all-knowing,
and perfectly good god, as some religions claim, then how do we
explain serial killers, slavery, and wars? Why would a good god who
knows the future bother making a life-form that he knew would end
up fighting, killing, raping, stealing, and generally running amok as
many of us do? Many believers attempt to explain away the terrible
behavior that is common to our species by claiming that their god gave
us autonomy or "free will." But that misses the point. An all-knowing
god would know in advance what choices we were going to make and
how we would turn out. So why would he or she create us in this way?
Why would any good god set the stage for so much misery and suffering? Why would a good god knowingly make tribal creatures who
are so vulnerable to fear and hate? If he knew we would end up slaying our brothers and starving our sisters' children, why would he go forward with an obviously bad design?

Despite our many problems, I do agree with believers that life on
Earth, including humankind, is profoundly beautiful, almost magically
so. An Olympic runner in full flight and a child's smile are irresistibly
gorgeous to human eyes. I am not so disappointed by our failures that
I cannot see our achievements. However, we all should be honest
enough to admit that the beauty of our species is at least matched by
its ugliness.

If you suspect that I am being too hard on humankind, consider
these statistics:

• There are an estimated twenty-seven million slaves in the world
today. This is more than there were at the beginning of the nineteenth century when slavery was legal in Great Britain and the
United States of America. (Leach 2004)

• About half the people on Earth struggle to survive on less than
two dollars per day. (UN)

• More than 780 million adults cannot read or write. (CIA)

• More than a billion people do not have access to safe drinking
water. (WHO)

• More than two billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. (WHO)

• The world spends more than a trillion dollars per year on waging
war or preparing for war. (Global Security)

• About half of the world's children live in severe poverty.
(UNICEF)

• More than nine million children die each year because of
poverty. That's approximately twenty-five thousand each day.
(UNICEF)

"Beautiful" may be one of our qualities but it certainly is not a complete description of our species. For every thing that is attractive about
us, one can easily match it with something repulsive. We are smart enough to feed, house, and educate every child, but we choose not to
do it. One man paints a landscape on canvas, another shreds it with
cluster bombs.