James Pringle

Believe it or not, there are people on the planet today that still do not except the reality of the theory of evolution. For the most part, I think that anyone actively arguing against it is probably a fundamentally religious person, and understanding that fact, it’s not hard to see why they are against it. They are against it for the simple reason that they have realized and accepted that the theory of evolution doesn’t mix with any theory of a divine creator (I’m speaking mostly of the three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). All three of those religions have their own ideas about how man came about this Earth, and not surprisingly, since they were all written many years ago, do not mix with the reality that is evolution.

So, it seems pretty simple. Any one of these three faiths (and any other I haven’t listed that falls into this category) must believe in their religion’s explanation of the beginning of the human race. Without it, you cast doubt on the whole of their dogma, and if there’s anything religious people do not want to hear it’s something that might put their faith in jeopardy. When evolution comes along they have no choice but to deny it. Why? Well, because they want to “live” forever. Let’s be honest, no one would bother with religion if it didn’t provide answers to things we do not (and probably will not ever) know. Religion is simply a way to fill the voids of curiosity and fear in your head. When a religion comes along and says you will live for all eternity, I can see the attraction to that. This I used to think was the sole reason for why evolution did not have as strong a hold in general acceptance, as say, the theory of gravity does.

I must pause and give some credit to the fundamentalists, or really anyone having the gull to deny evolution. At the very least they are sticking up for what they believe in and are not backing down to anyone or anything (not even logic, reason, and evidence). I truly do have some weird admiration for that. This state-of-mind, I think, is not the only reason the theory of evolution has yet to become uncontested. The other, and possibly more dangerous reason, falls on the shoulders of all the other religious (or maybe not even religious) people who are (for lack of a better word) agnostic about evolution.

Agnostic, to me, really means someone who is too lazy or disinterested to go research and figure out on which side of the fence they fall. Unfortunately, when someone thinks this way they usually tend to go with majority opinion. Here’s the catch: What if the majority opinion is wrong?

Majority acceptance of false claims renders the truth on par with a conspiracy theory. This allows those who do not seek the evidence to gain at least some small sense of reassurance by thinking that the opposing argument (which is reality) is silly and therefore to be laughed off.

Evolution, in this way, is seen as some silly “conspiracy theory” by the majority of the population because they tend to side with the majority opinion. They rely on their knowledge of the subject by what they have overheard on television or what they hear as anecdotes. They do not do research of their own. This idea keeps alive the “doubt of evolution” meme.

Up until fairly recently I thought the “excuse” for the backlash against evolution stemmed from the fundamentalist perspective, as described above, as having no other choice but to deny evolution. Lately though I feel this is not true. The “blame” is really to be placed on the majority of people who would claim they are religious but haven’t really done much research in either religion or science to know what they really believe. Because of this, they tend to go with majority opinion (even though it’s wrong), which is usually some solace in religious dogma that promises life after death coupled with a hesitant “if-you-say-so” “acceptance” of evolution. This is a lot more of a contributing factor to the resistance against evolution than anything the fundamentalist religious believers tend to spew forth.