Evolution is a theory that explains why organisms are so complex; over time the organism adapts to the surroundings becoming more complex, those that fail to adapt will die and become extinct, these adapted genetics are passed onto the offspring. The notion of evolution was published by Charles Darwin. He described evolution through primordial soup. Original amoeba’s (single celled organisms) became multicellular organisms such as fish which later grew limbs enabling them to go ashore. The organisms ashore then adapted to their surroundings, for example a giraffe adapted to have a long neck to reach the lush leaves on the tree tops. This can also be described as the survival of the fittest.
Some religious people will directly reject any theory of evolution as it not dependent on God. If evolution is thought to be correct then there is no need for the creation stories of God forming different animals such as humans as they are a result of a natural process that can be proved by science. ‘God gave Adam the breath of life’ is a quotation from the Bible that supports a religious argument that God formed Adam and is not a prolonged natural process. Fundamentalists believe that the Bible is the direct word of God and thus is the full truth; therefore fundamentalists would also reject the theory of evolution as they believe that the God hypothesis (the notion that God can be applied to everything) is certainly true. Keith Ward is a fundamentalist; he automatically rejects any scientific means of explaining the universe and the complexity within as it is too complex to have occurred by chance. Ward aims to create an argument purely based on theology to support God’s existence.
However there are other categories of creationism with differing views of evolution than the Fundamentalists. One category is age-gap creationism; the idea that the seven day creation story is not an actual seven days as each one is millions of years old. This could compliment the notion of evolution as it may suggest that God made the world over a long time and gradually increased the complexity of his creations. Furthermore this can be described as prolonged creationism. Many liberalists would believe in these types of creations described above as they see the Bible to be religious messages rather than truths, which could be described as fables. The message of the creation story being described in Genesis 1 and 2 is that God is omnipotent so has the power to create the earth and creations but doesn’t necessarily mean that the creation took place in seven days which is said to be so in the Bible.
On the other hand there are many philosophers that have produced arguments from the existence of God through the apparent design in the universe; known as the teleological argument. Both Paley and Aquinas were concerned with the design quo regularity but Paley also argued the existence of God through design quo purpose. Paley produced an analogy of the watch, eye and solar system to argue his point and Aquinas produced the analogy of the arrow. They both believed that God designed the universe and that it is this design apparent in the universe, they rejected the scientific notions even if they were supported by empirical evidence. Thus they would both reject the theory of evolution as it suggests that God did not play a part in the design of the universe and all within which would weaken their arguments significantly as it provides alternative evidence which disproves the notion of an intelligent designer.
Another way a religious person may react to the statement is by trying to link both science and religion together; making them compatible with one another. Jhon Polkinghorne is a theist so he believes that God created the earth but stays within it to sustain it. He uses miracles to explain how science and religion can be compatible as God acts through natural and physical laws in the universe which ultimately effect oneself; even though it can be perceived as science or God acting it is actually both as God is essentially acting through science. He is a liberalist Christian who doesn’t believe in the Big bang or the creation stories. When applying this notion to the theory of evolution Polkinghorne may suggest the God adapts the natural conditions of the universe which in turn make the organisms adapt and increase in complexity; this notion means that science and religion do not need to conflict thus he is a believer in concordinism.
Overall many religious groups will reject the theory of evolution but if they don’t the argument that they represent will still have an intelligent being postulated into it; it is never just science alone. However it is important to note that none of the argument presented are defensible as they can be weakened by many individual factors. For example, Richard Dawkins, a modern Neo-Darwinist. authored a book named ‘The blind Watch maker’ which directly criticises Paley’s teleological argument.