A atheist is simply to disbelief in the existence of a god or deities of any kind. That’s it. No more, no less. It does not encompass the origins of the universe (if it had one), the emergence of life, changes in living organisms over time, morality, politics, fiscal policy, or political ideology.

There are some ideas that atheists as a group will converge and agree upon by virtue of the process that lead them to atheism in the first place – rational thought, logic, and evidence based beliefs.

It is true to say that the big bang, cosmological development, and evolution have a mountain of experimentally verifiable data to support their individual hypotheses. However, to say that atheism leads to a belief in any of these things is incorrect and disingenuous. Indeed, there are many people who accept the theory of evolution as true (is it not something you “believe in”) and manage to keep their religious faith. The two beliefs are by no means completely incompatible.

Ray Comfort demonstrates massive misunderstandings of what the the theory of evolution actually says. No life form ever “walked on the land, gasped a few breaths and developed lungs”, nor did “apes evolve from horses”, nor did “both male and female sexes appear simultaneously”. To say such things demonstrates Ray has NEVER actually read any books, papers, or articles which outline the theory. It is painfully obvious he has not dome ANY research into the subject he professes to be an expert in.

Here is my feeble attempt to try and explain the theory of evolution to those who do not understand this exceedingly simple idea:

* Tiny errors in the replication of a species DNA from one generation to another leads to minute variations in their population. This is readily evident event to the most fervent creationist who invariably label them “micro-evolution”.

* Some of these variations may give the organism a slight advantage in surviving long enough to create the next generation. In the competition for the limited resources available, those with any advantage will have better odd of surviving and reproducing.

* In this manner, variations that give rise to competitive advantages eventually spread through the population, becoming more and more common with each passing generation.

* If a population of organisms is separated from the others via some external event or distance, then the two populations can pass on any variations within their groups independently.

* Given enough generations these minute changes add up to very large changes. The changes are eventually so great that the two populations can no longer interbreed with the other and produce viable offspring. At this stage we have two separate species by definition.

That’s it!

Of course, when Charles Darwin proposed the idea he was just looking a the visual similarities and difference between closely related species. He noted the huge variation in the beak shapes of different species finches and wondered why they were so similar in so many ways except a few. Looking at the larger picture one must wonder why many mammals share the same number of bones arranged in very similar ways throughout our bodies. I am always perplexed when creationists claim we “look nothing like apes”. Perhaps I see the similarities more than the differences? I am a glass is half full person.

Sidenote: For those of you with a cat or dog – Pick up your pet and count the number of “fingers” they have (the thumb on these animals has moved up the “front arm”). Count the number of bones in the forearm and upper arm. Count the number of ribs and vertebra. Notice the skull with sockets for two forward facing eyes, the nose and mouth beneath, ears to the side. Even internally (no, don’t cut your pet open) they share amazingly similar structures. How does a creationist account for this? God (in his infinite wisdom and creativity) created them all basically the same? Where’s the originality?

Charles Darwin knew nothing about cell biology, DNA or RNA, molecular biology, bioinformatics, or biostatistics. These fields have only reinforced and refined Darwin’s original concept. If he were alive today he would marvel at the knowledge we have acquired due to the deceptively simple insight he made 150 years ago.

Tags: atheism, Darwin, Evolution