Atheists, if you have a moment to consider this.....?

Don, I can honestly say, that Evolution was NEVER the reason for me becoming an atheist. Not even close! You sadly have very little, if any, comprehension of atheism or evolution -- and your assumption that, without evolution, the only remaining option is a god of some kind, is also painfully wrong.

Science is not in the "business" of religion, meaning its intent is not to create an idea and stand by it vehemently in the face of proof to the contrary. If there ever is a better answer then evolution, or a better evolutionary concept, science will study it and adapt accordingly.

Regardless, that doesn't effect my disbelief in gods. You, sir, are an atheist when it comes to the hundreds of other gods that came before your Christian god. Ask yourself why? Does your decision to not believe in Zeus or Ra have anything to do with Science? Maybe if you understand that concept, you can begin to understand atheism.

If evolution were to be disproven, then I would abandon my evolutionist beliefs. The theory of evolution is not the only factor in my atheism; science's explanations of many natural phenomena, the Church's own mistakes in trying to explain these phenomena over the centuries (where they were presented as "facts" rather than "theories"), the many contradictions between competing religions throughout the world...... etc.... also strongly contribute towards this.

Also, it is inaccurate to assume that ruling out evolution would automatically imply creationism since this does not allow for the possibility that there is another rational reason for life getting to where it is now.

However, all of this line of questioning is very much hypothetical because the theory has been tested and researched to such an extent that the probability of it being false is incredibly slim indeed.

P.S. While I'm not out to convert, I just typed "contradictions in the bible" into Google and this was the first result. http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/...

What were you saying earlier about what you would do if the Bible was proved wrong?

Evolution is one of the most continually proven and *ahem* evolving theories out there. It will not be proven wrong. I really wish everyone here would have watched that NOVA special last night.

Anyway, it's really closed minded to think that without evolution the only other option is a supernatural sky dude. That's like saying "If I can't find a straightforward reason why I'm so sick that means a snot-fairy jumped in my brain and gave me this terrible headache."

Something I always ask is this. People who believe that a man on a cloud created everything by going "POOF! There's a tree! POOF! There's a blue whale!" say that evolution can't be true because the world is so complex.

Any "creator" who is capable of doing such a thing would be more complex than any blue whale or tree. Who created that creator?

But to answer your question, I would still be an atheist. Evolution and atheism aren't intertwined.

Evolution has less of a chance of being proved wrong than just about anything else in science.

Your false dichotomy for evolution and god is like saying if Gravity were proven wrong then God must be holding us down. If gravity were proven false then the only remaining option is a supernatural pusher downer of some kind.

Agnosticism ( the claim gods are unknowable ) is not an option to atheism ( the lack of belief in gods ) they are in entirely different categories.

my atheism has nothing to do with evolution. i was a nascent atheist when i attended the religious school my parents sent me to. it was the inherent contradictions and illogicality of the bible and the fact that the doctrine and dogma was so tenuously based upon a few lines that stretched the meanings of the words to breaking point. it was all supported by a poor and flimsy sophistry.

evolution is doing a pretty good job as a theoretical framework for all of the biological sciences. they all seem to been singing from the same hymn sheet when the facts are interpreted using evolution. if you, or anyone else can come up with a better one than it, i'm willing to listen. and no form of creationism at present even makes the credible hypothesis stage. the alien intervention and paradoxical time loop have as much validity as any supernatural explanation.

I would believe in anything that has proof. Failing hard proof, I would lean toward whatever I felt is the most sensible option.

If evolution isnt true, it would not send me running to a deity for the same reason that if I found out a certain medication didn't work, I wouldn't suddenly believe in fairy's.

Just because it's the answer that satisfies other people doesn't mean it would fit my life - I don't belive in faith of gods because any loving, decent, caring god would not test us so ridiculously.

In my life I have heard "the word of god" so many times, I know it better than many christians I know, so it's not ignorance. I have seen first hand how faith can make people feel better but on that note - would you prescribe a placebo to someone with cancer because it worked on a hypochondriac?

Just what proof do you need for evolution? What will do? Don't all the endless fossils count for anything or the numerous studies that have been done regarding the development of species?

If God created the earth, why did he create the other planets? Why is there ample evidence for the continents not having been in there current place for ever (just look at Western Africa and Eastern South America : kind of fits together if you think about it) which in itself implies a developing planet and not one that was made in seven days.

And this God thing, person, whatever : if he created man then why is Christianity only a religion for a "select few". If God is such a loving one why, supposedly, if the second coming happens will he only take his chosen few with him?

The debate for the premise of evolution ended long ago. Evolution happens, mechanisms of evolution, as we discover new evidence, change occasionally. The theory of evolution does not attempt to prove evolution, but the mechanisms for which it happens. We can observe it in both the lab and the wild, no matter what the fundies say, in simple species. Speciation has been observed, it's over.

My atheism over agnosticism comes not from evolution, but the understanding we have on the ''evolution'' of religion. We know that religion evolved as polytheistic and pantheistic, and have a pretty good idea of why it evolved, to explain natural weather phenomena that baffled early man.

I don't base my non-belief on evolution, but if something happened that somehow proved the existence of God, I think I probably would at least become agnostic. However, so many bad things have happened in the world, that it would take something extreme to make me a born-again Christian as it were.

Since the Bible it not a scientific hypothesis it cannot be tested to verify its validity. It can neither be proved right or wrong. It just has to be accepted or rejected or neglected or read for fun by non-rational faith. Evolution, on the other, hand, IS a scientific hypothesis and so it CAN be tested and HAS been tested and it HAS PASSED all tests with FLYING COLOURS. One does not "believe in" evolution like one believes in religion. One simply understand how it works and see how it applies to life. If evolution is ever proved wrong, then science will simply come up with another naturalistic theory to explain the origin of species and the descent of humans.