Evolutionary Theories and Biblical Morality
Introduction
The mantra has been that evolutionary theory has no impact on a person's moral beliefs. However, if we truly are the products of natural selection then morality is merely a product of culture and can encompass anything society defines it to be. Until recently, no studies had examined the role of evolutionary beliefs on moral behaviors. However, a recent study manipulated the belief in determinism, finding that instilling such a belief in individuals led to significantly increased incidences of cheating.
Articles
- Naturalistic Biological Change and the Bible - Does the Bible preclude any form of evolution? The answer may surprise you!
- Inherit the Wind- The Truth About the "Real Brady" (William Jennings Bryan) of the Scopes 'Monkey Trial' This fictionalized depiction of the Scopes trial distorts the original characters, vilifying the Christians and elevating the evolutionists. If such a book were written intentionally distorting any other religious or ethnic minority (blacks, Jews, Moslems, etc.) it would be banned from public schools - much less actually used in classrooms.
- Implications of Evolution in Morality, Culture, and Society - Evolution has profound implications in the areas of human worth, purpose, and morality.
- Are Atheists and Theists Morally Equivalent? - What moral values do atheists consider to be "very important?"
- Atheism Doesn't Lead to Immoral Behavior or Poor Ethics - Or Does It? In theory doesn't necessarily lead to immoral behavior, but in practice...
- Does Atheism (Determinism) Negatively Impact Morality? - Scientists manipulate belief in determinism, which negatively influences moral behavior.
- Scientists are Completely Unbiased? They would never put paradigm over data, would they?
- Parasite Ecology and the Evolution of Religion - A paper by Ben Cullen, which argues against Richard Dawkins' "religion as a disease" position, on the grounds that Dawkins has not manipulated neo-Darwinian logic consistently. Cullen argues that Dawkins has erected a highly personal view of religion, which is in complete conflict with both his own selfish gene theories (Dawkins, 1989), and a growing body of parasite research.
Book Reviews
More Evolution vs. Design
- Evidence for Design in the Universe
- Evidence for Design in Biology
- Scientific Theories on the Origin of Life
- Theories on the Descent of Humans
- Evolutionary Biology Theories/Problems
Related Resources
A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test Ever since I attended a Reasons To Believe conference in 2000, I have been fascinated with the approach Ken Samples has taken for testing worldviews for truth. The wait is finally over and A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test is now published. One of the long-term goals of Reasons To Believe has been to provide a comprehensive, testable Christian creation model, and A World of Difference adds a philosophical piece to that testable creation model. Specific worldviews that are examined in detail include naturalism (a completely secular worldview), postmodernism (a skeptical worldview), pantheistic monism (Eastern mystical worldview), Islam (a radical monotheistic worldview), and Christianity. More...
http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/evolution_theories_morality.html
Last Modified May 9, 2009