Oklahoma: Insist That People Coexisted With Dinosaurs…and Get an A in Science Class!

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69. Evolution is Not a religion

http://concordareahumanists.org/blog/201301/evolution-religion
Is Evolution a Religion?
By Ellery Schempp

IDists claim that there is an "intelligent design" view and that
evolution is "an equal religion". They usually say "Darwinism". Of
course, there is no such thing as "Darwinism", this is a word made up
by IDists to label those who do not accept their views. Let's
consider what characterizes traditional religions and whether
evolution is a religion. The historical record shows numerous
distinctions.

The Theory of Evolution is not a religion.

Evolution has no priests, pastors, ministers, preachers, bishops,
ayatollahs, imams, mullahs, prophets (or televangelical profits). No
holy books or sacred scriptures. It has no holidays, no feast days,
no canonized saints. It depends on no miracles. It gets no tax
exemptions.

Evolution has no alter boys, no prayers, no church establishments, no
edifices with crosses, stars or crescents, no churches or temples, no
coming-of-age rituals like Bar Mitzvah or confirmation.

Evolution has no banned books, no warnings about heresy or blasphemy,
no record of burning witches or heretics, no public displays of piety
or prayer, no holy book supposed to contain "All Truth", no creed to
be ritually recited. Evolution does not define pagans or infidels.
There are no mythological beliefs or transubstantiations.

Evolution has no history of torturing non-believers, has never
started a war, never burned an opponent at the stake. The idea of
evolution has no record of sex scandals. No record of financial
fraud. No record of trying to get a passport stamped for entry into
heaven. Evolution offers no condemnations to hell nor promises of an
after-life.

Evolution does not support occult beliefs. The scientific theory of
evolution has no dependence on a supernatural deity or pixies; no
prayer rituals, no burial rituals, no sacraments. There are no
invisible beings, gods, deities, devils, demons, ghosts, satans,
angels, spirits, cherubim, seraphim, faeries, or a soul. Evolution
recognizes no destructions as "acts of God" nor acts of violence
as "acts of Satan or an anti-christ."

Evolution does not depend on blind faith; it offers no argument from
authority; no conclusion first, facts second. There is no body
of "apologetics" from the theory of evolution.

The above are evidences of religion. The idea of evolution, which is
based on observation of the natural world as we see it, does not have
any of the attributes of religion. Indeed, evolution is the
opposite, it welcomes energetic inquiries and thoughtful inputs.

Evolution looks not to miracles to understand the world around us.
Evolution, as all science, looks to evidence that we can see and
understand and test. Neither evolution nor any scientific construct
claims to offer moral or political guidance.

Evolution is consistent with a democratic outlook in which the rights
of the people are derived from the people. Evolution is not
consistent with the view that the natural world is only revealed by
authorities or a view that rights derive from authorities, especially
not from authorities anointed under a doctrine of the Divine Right of
Kings or one or another "holy scripture". It is the natural world as all can see and understand, and it
depends on no revelations, no sacred texts.

The Theory of Evolution, the Theory of Gravity, the Germ Theory of
Disease are not religion and not religious. Just because you think
something is true does not make it a religion.

The theory of evolution is the antithesis of traditional religions;
it champions the free mind, and the spirit of free inquiry to see
where facts, observations, and the power of reason as the human mind
leads.