Several times recently we have seen posters think that evolution is atheism. Thus, they are puzzled by theistic evolutionists, thinking that it is impossible to be a theistic evolutionist.
EVOLUTION IS NOT ATHEISM. The actual relationship of evolution and atheism is more complicated:
The old top-down philosophy of the 18th and early 19th century had deity on top. Deity made intelligence, which made Design, below Design was Order and below Order was Chaos. In 1802 Paley wrote his famous Natural History: Significantly the subtitle was or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature. In this Paley gave the Argument from Design as proof of the existence of deity. That is, you can't have the design in biological organisms without a Designer. At the time, this argument for the designs in organisms was unanswerable. David Hume, as staunch an atheist as ever lived, had conceded this 20 years earlier in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Hume was able to logically demolish all the other logical "proofs" for the existence of deity, but he had to cave in the face of the Argument from Design. Basically, Hume has to admit that his atheism is a faith.Now along comes Darwin and Wallace and they discover an unintelligent process -- natural selection -- that gives the design in biological organisms. Suddenly the Argument from Design as "proof" of deity disappears. So, for the first time, atheists can pretend that their faith isn't a faith.Dawkins makes his famous statement "Although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist." Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, pg 6. http://www.cis.org.uk/articles/evolution_relig_signif/alexander_01.htm
Without natural selection, atheists have no good answer to the Argument from Design. Now, does evolution falsify a Creator? Of course not. Darwin realized this. Even Phillip Johnson realizes this: "The blind watchmaker thesis makes it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist by supplying the necessary creation story. It does not make it obligatory to be an atheist, because one can imagine a creator who works through natural selection." Phillip Johnson Reason in the Balance, pg. 73 The continued insistence by creationists that "natural selection can't account for ...." is an attempt to restore the old Argument from Design and take away the intellectual prop for atheism. But that isn't necessary, because atheism remains a faith even with natural selection in place.
EVOLUTION IS NOT ATHEISM. The actual relationship of evolution and atheism is more complicated:
The old top-down philosophy of the 18th and early 19th century had deity on top. Deity made intelligence, which made Design, below Design was Order and below Order was Chaos. In 1802 Paley wrote his famous Natural History: Significantly the subtitle was or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature. In this Paley gave the Argument from Design as proof of the existence of deity. That is, you can't have the design in biological organisms without a Designer. At the time, this argument for the designs in organisms was unanswerable. David Hume, as staunch an atheist as ever lived, had conceded this 20 years earlier in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Hume was able to logically demolish all the other logical "proofs" for the existence of deity, but he had to cave in the face of the Argument from Design. Basically, Hume has to admit that his atheism is a faith.Now along comes Darwin and Wallace and they discover an unintelligent process -- natural selection -- that gives the design in biological organisms. Suddenly the Argument from Design as "proof" of deity disappears. So, for the first time, atheists can pretend that their faith isn't a faith.Dawkins makes his famous statement "Although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist." Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, pg 6. http://www.cis.org.uk/articles/evolution_relig_signif/alexander_01.htm
Without natural selection, atheists have no good answer to the Argument from Design. Now, does evolution falsify a Creator? Of course not. Darwin realized this. Even Phillip Johnson realizes this: "The blind watchmaker thesis makes it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist by supplying the necessary creation story. It does not make it obligatory to be an atheist, because one can imagine a creator who works through natural selection." Phillip Johnson Reason in the Balance, pg. 73 The continued insistence by creationists that "natural selection can't account for ...." is an attempt to restore the old Argument from Design and take away the intellectual prop for atheism. But that isn't necessary, because atheism remains a faith even with natural selection in place.