I attended a talk on UK's campus about the most recently discovered ancestor of our species, Homo naledi. When my mom called me that day, I was excited to tell her about it. However, she didn't seem as excited. She immediately told me I needed to focus on my faith more, that by enjoying the wonders of evolution, I was venturing away from my religion. I was taken aback for a second. It has been second nature to me to allow my religious beliefs and my science beliefs coexist in my life that I forgot others often don't see it that way. But why not?
Evolution can be a mechanism of God.
There is so much focus on the religion vs. evolution mindset, but little emphasis on how the two can coincide. In Christianity, the Bible states that God spoke the world into existence out of nothing and did the same with animals and humans. The Bible, however, doesn't say how God did this. This is where science and evolution can come in to play. The big bang could be God bringing our world into existence. The "origin of the species" Darwin wrote about could be God perfecting our human race to precisely his image. If you delve deeper specifically into the Bible, to God, one day could be a thousand years. This doesn't have to be taken literally, but instead it can be thought of as a tell-tale sign that to God, time is different. Maybe he created the world in seven days, but maybe to God, those seven days were the billions of years that scientists believe the earth and life itself was formed in.
Ken Hamm doesn't know everything.
Often, the world of science looks at religion like a laughing stock. This certainly seemed to be the case when the infamous debate between Ken Hamm and Bill Nye was broadcasted. This was a huge step back in regards to the coexistence of religion and evolution. Ken Hamm blatantly opposed scientific facts that have been proven, in favor of his own interpretation of the scripture and what that means for earth and human history. However, this gives religion a bad name in regards to science. Hamm's view is by no means the only way to view religion and science. They don't have to be separate.
Intelligent design is awe-inspiring to think about.
Looking through the timeline of evolution can be such an incredible experience. To see how the human race has changed throughout time makes me wonder how we even got to the place we are now, reading (or in my case writing) this article. Down to the tiniest particles in our body, we are immensely complex. The fact that evolution could lead to something like this just seems incredible--so incredible that a creator could have been behind the scenes setting these evolutionary processes in motion.
Religion can answer the tough questions evolution can't.
Evolution can explain how our species came to be and how species continue to change throughout time, but it can't tell us why. Why are we here? What is our purpose as the only intelligent beings in our world? Religion fills in the holes that evolution and science can't. They fit together the puzzle pieces of how we came to be to form something that is complete.
Scientists will openly tell you religion can't be ruled out.
Brian Greene, a world renowned physicist said "There's no way that scientists can ever rule out religion, or even have anything significant to say about the abstract idea of a divine creator." Science can neither prove nor deny the idea of a God, so why not have them work together?
