What evidence is there to support the theory of evolution and does it contradict theist beliefs

Question

What evidence is there to support the theory of evolution and does it contradict theist beliefs

Answer 1

It would take an entire TV series to answer that question.

Funnily enough there is one....

http://richarddawkins.net/event,258,Chan...

Answer 2

For the evidence, see my answer to this question:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

As for whether it contradicts theist beliefs ...

... No it does not.

I for one am not an atheist, but I am a total supporter of evolution.

The Catholic church ... certainly no hotbed of atheism ... has formally declared that there is no contradiction between evoltion and faith in God.

About 40% of scientists believe in God ... and they *OVERWHELMINGLY* support evolution.

So clearly not.

Think of it this way:  Does it contradict theist beliefs to know that you were born through a completely biological process known as "human reproduction"?  Does it diminish your uniqueness, or your belief that you are a special creation?   If not, then why would it contradict theist beliefs to know that your species was born through a completely biological process known as "human evolution"?  Why would that diminish the uniqueness of the human race, or your belief that man is a special creation?  Same logic.

It is only a contradiction if you have such a shallow concept of "theistic beliefs" that you can find no other way to believe in God other than a completely *literal* childlike view of the book of Genesis.  In other words, only if you are defending passages that define a literal six-day Creation, or counting the generations from Adam to Moses to come up with a literal age of 6,000 years for the age of the universe!  If you go that route, then it's not just evolution that contradicts those beliefs, but pretty much everything in science since about the 1700s.

Answer 3

Where can I start?  Ok, evolution obviously has abundant evidence in the fossil record.  There is a great history of evolution of many species preserve as hard evidence in the fossil record.  Yes, even transitionary species are in the fossil record, from bird-like reptiles (or reptile-like birds) to fish with legs.  The problem with the fossil record is that very few things become fossils as it requires very specific conditions, and even then there is a small chance.  The abundance of the fossil record therefore shows just how many living things have been on this planet.  More convincingly, however, is the better evidence contained in the DNA of living things themselves.  When species lose their ability to do something, like synthesizing vitamin C, and natural selection allows them to continue living, the gene for that ability doesn't simply get deleted.  It actually becomes non-functional through mutation and remains as non-functional DNA and becomes what is known as a fossil gene.  These fossil genes are then compared to other species.  Low and behold, the fossil record matches with the DNA record!  Evolution has stood the test of time and new discoveries and technologies have only strengthened that wonderful theory.  For more on the DNA evidence for evolution, you should read "The Making of the Fittest" by Sean B. Carroll.  

As for its contradiction with theistic beliefs.  Evolution merely shows life's history of change.  It makes no attempt to explain the origin of life, or anything philosophical.  Much as the theory of gravity makes no attempt to explain the cause of gravity.  Thus, the only conflict between evolution and theism is that evolution proves that so-called "sacred" books like the bible and the koran are not historically factual and cannot be taken to be literal.  Evolution is not the only scientific theory that does this.  Now, if you want to extrapolate some philosophical implications from evolutionary theory be my guest, just remember that it is your interpretation.  For instance, evolution suggests to me that the natural world is capable of existing without a divine intervention as it appears to have no forethought, and therefore no design.  However, I cannot say that evolution tells me there is no god, that is just how I justify evolutions occurrence.

Answer 4

The physical evidence for evolution is vast.  It comes from paleontology, geology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, comparative anatomy, molecular biology, and other fields.  

It only contradicts religious beliefs if those beliefs are contradicted by physical evidence.  Most religious beliefs with which I am familiar do not change when new physical evidence is presented.  Thus, it becomes an argument between faith and evidence.  

Answer 5

The principle support of evolution is that things change over time.  In breeding animals for domestication man has artificially changed the basic physical and psychological characteristics of animals to meet his needs.  In dogs for instance, the most domesticated animals are ones that are retarded in the puppy stage of evolution, making them attractive to man.  A primary example is the crab population of certain asian countries.  A story was told of a ship full of Samurai Warriors that sank in the ocean and drown and they came back to life  as crabs.  Superstitious fishermen saw the faces of a samurai in some crab shells and threw them back into the sea without eating them.  Over hundreds of years an entire subspecies of crabs developed with the likeness of a samurai warrior on the shell.  Survival of the .......most unusual.