Evolution and God

There is no doubt that evolution conflicts with a literal interpretation of the creation account in Genesis. According to a strict literal reading, the earth is relatively young (a few thousand years old, give or take) and all species were created wholly formed in a special act of creation. Evolutionary theory tells us on the contrary that all currently existing species are descended from common ancestors in a process that has been billions of years in the making. These accounts are flatly incompatible. Is this the end of the story? Are we forced to conclude that evolution is incompatible with belief in God? Obviously, there are ways to avoid this conclusion. There are fundamentally two issues/questions: how are we to understand Genesis (and holy texts generally)? And, what does evolution say about the existence of God? Rather than attempt to answer these questions definitively, we will describe various positions one might attempt to defend. It is up to you to figure out which of these views (if any) is defensible.

As you consider the following positions, it is worth keeping in mind that very often creationists will attempt to define the issue as an all or nothing affair: either you believe in God and the Bible or you believe in evolution. But this is a false dichotomy; as is so often the case with dichotomies, there is plenty of land between the poles.

Young earth creationists vs. Old earth creationists
Before talking about how evolution and belief in God can be reconciled, it is worth pointing out that even within the creationist camp there are those who are more willing to accommodate some of the findings of science. Old earth creationists are happy to admit that the universe is several billion years old, and that life on this planet stretches back far longer than a few thousand years. Such creationists square this view with Genesis in a variety of ways, by for instance arguing that the days of creation are not 24 hour days. The upshot is that the proper interpretation of Genesis is not as clear as some would have us think.

Progressive Creationism
According to this view, evolution has proceeded more or less as science describes, but God intervenes at strategic points to guide the process. Accordingly, evolution is seen as a means to an end, namely the creation of human beings, and so it is a progressive enterprise. This view requires a non-literal reading of Genesis.

Theistic Evolution
According to this view, evolution proceeds naturalistically, as science tells us it has, but this is entirely compatible with the existence of God as creator. The compatibility can be articulated in various ways. On some accounts, God is the creator of the universe and structured the laws of matter in such a way that evolution would take place. Others argue that evolution is only a partial story leaving out of its account the origin of souls: the current official Catholic position is that God creates individual souls, but human beings as biological systems are evolved. There are many other possible rapprochements within this general framework. This view requires a non-literal reading of Genesis.

Naturalistic Evolution
Still others would accept the scientific explanation of evolution in its entirety and argue that the role of God is not explanatory in the way peculiar to science. The role of God and holy texts is not to provide truths about the natural world, but rather to provide meaning, guidance, comfort, strength, etc. On this account, God is not to be understood literally as a creator or cause or explanation, and holy texts are not in general to be read as factual records.

Atheistic Evolution
Finally, there are those who accept the scientific explanation of evolution, and believe it provides unique reasons for rejecting God altogether as a myth. Holy texts on this view have no special status; they are the products of human creativity like any other text.