I tend to look at the matter of determinism like so:
A happens, which causes B to happen, which causes C to happen, and so on. Keep in mind that events and situations don't spontaneously happen; there's always some causation. The simple answer to something happening might be "It was God's will" or somesuch, which might be true as a technicality, but it doesn't take into account the seeming randomness of how the natural world operates at times.
Causation implies that there are separable "events", but a careful study and analysis reveals that the universe is one big event, which we, for purposes of comprehension and communication, artificially divide into parts that are manageable by our somewhat limited minds. Lots of the confusion and argument in this forum arises when we differ over the where divisions, the "definitions" are and should be drawn. Go to a dictionary. Many, if not most words, have more than one meaning, and which is meant depends on context. Of course sometimes these equivocations can be used artfully in humor or poetry, but in many discussions in this forum, it is far more useful to stick to the definition most pertinent to the matter at hand.
"Evolution" in the biological theory thus called is
not the same thing as social evolution, or cosmological evolution, or the evolutions of a marching band.
Some people refuse to understand that the biological theory of evolution is not about the big bang, for they perceive that what they call "evolution", but is really science, challenges their primacy in the universe and their over-inflated images of themselves and humanity. They can't come right out and say that they are denying science, because science works. And they can't admit, even to themselves, that humanity has outgrown the simple myths and metaphors of primitive societies, because that would be to confront the terrors lurking in the closet and under the bed.
They have been driven from the center of the universe and now they are being driven from the pinnacle of life. The "Crown of Creation" has been wrested from their grasp and they have to face the fact that they are merely animals, capable of superb reasoning to be sure, but altogether too fond of wishful thinking.
There is nothing to fear: Not death, which is inevitable, not pain, which may or may not be inevitable. (We can certainly avoid some of it if we deal with it rationally.) Even real monsters might be more surely dealt with by confrontation than by flight, if that confrontation is handled in a rational manner. And the unreal monsters, the demons, in our minds, must be dealth with by reason or they will cause us to destroy ourselves.
As a matter of fact, some of the "scientists" are also a little foggy on this point.
The distinctions, the boundaries the definitions we draw are artificial constructs in our minds. We can draw new boundaries, make new distinctions, and manufacture new definitions, as necessary or convenient, to deal with the concepts as our understanding grows and changes. Sociology is psychology writ large, and psychology is biology, and biology is chemistry, and chemistry is physics.
In a single atom there is more than anyone can understand, but that doesn't mean that we cannot understand parts of the whole and in so doing see some faint glimmer of the whole. If a perfect vacuum has mass, and even the most concentrated matter, the protons and neutrons of the atomic nuclei are mostly empty space to the point where the perfect vacuum constitutes by far the greatest part of the mass, then it is ridiculous to cling to the unsubstantial idea.
I define "God" differently than the Christian or the Muslim. Actually, I don't "define" God at all. I don't set boundaries on the real. (Richard Dawkins classified me with the "sexed-up atheists"! Would it were so!
) I won't talk about God here. The mods would probably find it an infraction of forum rules. It would make them uncomfortable and they would accuse me of proselytizing.
I do know this: When typhus, or typhoid, or malaria strikes, antibiotics are more useful than prayer.
Think about it.
