For many there is an irreconcilable conflict between the “science” of evolution and the “faith” of a Judeo-Christian worldview. It seems to me that if those who place their faith in the species Homo sapiens’ ability to discover its origins through scientific postulation and discovery would simply take a deep breath and think for a moment, they would realize that a Judeo-Christian worldview is necessary for the perpetuation of their assertion that humans are a result of epochal evolution.
It is a widely accepted fact that as long as humans have been recording their history, the concept of a “god” or multiple “gods” is part of that human history. Some of the earliest archeological relics we now possess are connected to some ancestor’s concept god. God and communication (perhaps self-awareness) seem to be inextricably linked within the evolutionary process.
Consider this: if we did indeed evolve from less complicated biological entities, the issue of self-replication and self-preservation is paramount to the continuation of the evolutionary process. If there is no progeny there is no possibility of the progress of a species. As religion evolved alongside its human adherents it became evident that an all-powerful, all-knowing, personal and personable god would be necessary to rule the wildly diverse urges of humans so that they could progress; so they could preserve the species and procreate. A god was then imagined who gives the command not only to procreate, but also to dominate. (see Genesis 1.28 )
This god was not sufficient since according to this god’s history, the earliest generations still killed each other and the species still struggled to thrive. God evolved again becoming the god who specifically commands, “Don’t kill each other,” in fact, “Love your neighbor” (see Exodus 20.13 and Leviticus 19.18). In addition to these basic “species protections,” this imaginary god also gives them rules and regulations for building a sustainable and progressive culture.
This updated god was far more effectual than the last god version since it was within the framework of this god’s cultural structure that the next evolutionary religious leap occurred. God became human, but not like in the mythology of the Greeks where the gods have to satisfy their sexual needs or exercise their pernicious powers, this further evolved god comes to model “in person” what will really push the evolutionary process even further forward: the pursuit of truth that frees the species (see John 8.32 ).
Tapping the drive of humans to pursue “truth” also proved to be profitable for the species. The culture of what is considered “the West” grew and overcame significant obstacles. Even though it began from a position far behind the development of the “East” it ended up surpassing the accomplishments of the “East” in many if not most ways. The “West” became dominate, healthy, and “scientific.” With the rise of the “science of evolution” Western humans decided that god was no longer necessary and began the process of trying to exclude this long-held “there is a god” notion that really provided science the very foundation upon which it stood.
Bad evolutionary idea! Why?
Humans need gods to keep them constrained and the current evolutionary stage of science is not expansive enough or powerful enough to take the Judeo-Christian god’s place. The notion that the current form of science can replace god is laughable since scientists are driven to prove each other’s conclusions deficient or incorrect and science itself falls under the precocious whims of its own practitioners. The Judeo-Christian god has a distinct advantage since he is imagined to be “above humans” and to “not share human’s ways or thought patterns” (see Isaiah 55.8-9). If humans are constrained by an authority that cannot be overruled but whose continual desire is for the advancement of the species then the evolutionary process will continue unabated. If, however, the restraint of the Judeo-Christian god is removed, cultural dissolution will soon follow and human advancement as a species will be stinted or stop all together. [Even the so-called “atheistic” Eastern cultures have kept their gods all along, so if these cultures end up superseding the West once again, they will be taking their gods with them.]
I highly recommend Harold O. J. Brown’s The Sensate Culture: Western Civilization Between Chaos and Transformation (ISBN 978-1556351884) for those interested in the philosophy behind the necessity of god for civilization (in general) and, by extension, the necessity of god for the continued promulgation of evolution.
For an opposing evolutionary/philosophical view see OckhamsBeard.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Colossians 1:13-23, ESV)
TheNarrowRoadPursued 