Why does everyone on Y!A assume that Christians don't believe in Evolution?

Lack of experience with such Christians I suppose.

A lot of the people on Yahoo Answers are from the United States, and are not exposed to the many forms of Christianity that find the theory of evolution to be compatible with the faith.

Many atheists are surprised to learn that there are Christians who can be both strongly faithful and yet open to scientific discovery. And many evangelical Christians are also surprised to find that their many counterparts elsewhere in the world are quite comfortable with an interpretive reading of Genesis 1-3 that regards it more as a parable designed to explain the spiritual origin and fall of man, than as an Audubon field guide to prehistory.

Actually, I find even American atheists are mystified by this - they expect Christianity to be completely contained in a book, and often struggle to understand when told that Christianity is as much about its exegetical theologies as it is about the texts themselves. The answer directly below me is an example of what I mean.

I think you are very wrong dear sir; The Catholic Church surely doesn't look on the Genesis story as a myth or a metaphor with no real basis in reality.

What I know is, the last Pope was very open minded towards the evolution theory.

To say that the Genesis story has no real basis in reality is like saying that your mom is not important.

Genesis may well be the most fascinating thesis ever written; read it when you find some time...then talk to me.

LOL...well, then that "relatively small number of fundamentalists" is grossly overrepresented here on Y!A. Because I see hundreds of questions and answers every day from "Christians" who are extremely militant about their creationism. Then we have such phenomena as the "Creation Museum"...it's a serious problem, at least here in America. Our public schools are constantly being hobbled by the creationist agenda - as if they didn't have enough problems teaching kids anything.

Just read the guy above me. He is NOT alone. If this represents only a relatively small number of Christians, then the rest of them need to team up with the atheists to put a stop to it.

(Of course, I'm being a bit disingenuous. People who think Christianity is compatible with evolution simply don't understand either. As somebody else pointed out, evolution knocks the ground out from beneath the entire Christian salvationist theology. The fundies ARE right about Christianity - and therefore wrong about everything else. The only reasonable, scientifically-compatible form of the religion would be an undogmatic, "mystic" Christianity in which the historicity and scientific accuracy (or lack thereof) of the Bible is a moot point - in which the Christ legend is taken for pure allegory. But this type of religion has never been for the masses. To get butts in seats, you have to lure them with vulgar "literalism.")

Evolution is incompatible with fundamentalist religion, yes.

And it's the fundies who are the ones agitating for creationism to be taught in schools.

Sadly, the fundies have convinced many more moderate religionists that "intelligent design" has merit, which is why support for that runs wider (though not very deep) even among people who should know better.

Fokkerball, the Pope actually wrote a book on that topic a couple decades ago, called "Creation and Evolution," in which he argues that evolution happened and a mythic interpretation of Genesis does not necessarily require sacrificing any theology. I think his reasoning is a bit of a stretch (he sounds like he knows what he wants to believe and is trying hard to justify it), but it's still an attempt to answer your question.

Not me, in fact I point that out from time to time, that many Christians do accept evolution. The only people who say you can't both accept evolution and believe in God are the creationsts, not scientists.

If the Genesis story is literally true, then why did God go out of his way to make the world look like he didn't do it that way? People who believe the Bible is literally true either haven't done the least amount of research on biology, geology, and cosmology, or want to believe that their God is a deceiving liar. Most Christians would like to think that God is better than that.

Because people like to overgeneralize groups and beliefs. Frankly, I'm Christian and I don't take the bible literally, I think evolution and Christianity can go together. In the end everything is theory any way. We don't really know what is right and what is wrong, but it does not really matter as long as try to live a good life and and not be self-serving.

Even if you believe in the existence of the Judeo-Christian god, it is a stretch of logic to go from "the Bible is not literal" or even "the Bible is wrong in spots" to "God is a liar". That presupposed a number of things which really can't be proven -- how does one know for sure that the Bible is literal, or that God is protecting each and every word in the Bible from being changed, especially when we have so many bible versions where they ARE changed?

Anyhow, back to Sandy's question, most Christians I know of do accept the overwhelming evidence for evolution. But then, most Christians I know (through my career) are also scientists or otherwise are highly educated in the sciences, and educated people by a very large margin accept the theory of evolution.

My assumption that Christians don't believe in evolution comes from the fact that I see at least a couple dozen posts every day in this forum by Christians who indicate they don't believe in evolution. Most of them suggesting that I'm a fool because I do.

And if most Christians believe that Genesis is myth and/or metaphor, I'm wondering what criteria you use to decide which parts of "God's word" are to be interpreted literally and which are to be viewed as metaphor?

Actually, according to some surveys, as much as 50% of American's don't accept evolution. Many Christians do, but many do. It is wrong to assume Christians all believe in Creationism, but the idea is that when you ask a question to Christians regarding their non-belief in evolution, it is meant only for those who don't accept it.

Thank you! I get so tired of responding to the ignorance of the theists. People who believe in Evolution are evolutionists, not Atheists. People who believe in the Big Bang are Big Bangists, Not Atheists. If an atheist opts to assume the Big Bang is a viable theory, he or she will do so without belief. Belief has nothing at all to do with it. "Belief is something Theist's do in the absence of any facts or evidence. The Big Bang, or indeed anything supported by evidence, does not need belief. It is a simple leap of logic for one to get from the evidence to the assumption that the theory is likely to be true. Belief has nothing to do with it.