Evolution and/or Creation

When Darwin’s ideas about the history of life on Earth were published and read, not everyone was happy to accept what he said. Some religious believers didn’t like evolution because they saw it as a challenge to religious explanations for our existence. They thought creation and evolution were both trying to explain the same thing and people would have to choose between creation by God or the science of evolution.

Nowadays many people – including many scientists – say that Creation by God  and evolution are not rivals. They believe they are the answers to slightly different questions.

Why do many people believe you can have both science and religion?

Science and religion are mostly concerned with different types of questions. Science is concerned with how the natural world works. It helps us answer questions like, “Where do the colours in a bubble come from?” “Why are pebbles on a beach smooth?” “Why do spiders spin webs?”

Evolution is a scientific theory and it helps us to understand how the huge diversity of living things we see today have arisen over geologic time.

Religion addresses questions like – why does the Universe and everything it contains exist at all? Religious stories of Creation explain that God is the reason that everything exists. These ideas are important to people with a religious faith. They mean that God wants people to know about him and relate to him.