How can you be a Christian and believe in evolution at the same time?

Theistic Evolution

Literally, it's impossible.
But, there are some Christians who believe in Theistic Evolution - that God used evolution to create the entire universe. This is feasible.
As long as the Christian believes that God was behind the beginning of the universe (whether by creation or theistic evolution), it is okay.
But it is not okay to be a Christian and believe in secular evolution. That is, that there was no intelligent design in the process of evolution. That would be a Christian living a hypocriticial lie. And it cannot work.

• Also see the question: "What is theistic darwinism?"

Answer

Evolution and religion are not mutually exclusive. Christians really can and do believe in evolution. Consider for example the position of the Catholic Church, among others:

Pope Pius XII stated in his encyclical Humani Generis (1950) that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith and that he considered the doctrine of "evolutionism" a serious hypothesis, worthy of investigation and in-depth study equal to that of the opposing hypothesis; Pope John Paul II, in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1996), said that new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis; Pope Benedict has refused to endorse "intelligent design" theories, instead backing "theistic evolution" which considers that God created life through evolution with no clash between religion and science.

Another answer

How can one be a Christian and believe in evolution at the same time? With an ease that almost borders on the ridiculous. In general, Christians don't have to give up a single thing within their faith to accept evolution as it is presented in modern evolutionary synthesis (MES). MES is the current "state of the art" construct that accounts for all the findings made up to now as regards evolution. Those findings, by the way, include a veritable mountain of hard data that enjoys input from a number of other scientific disciplines as well as the expected contributions of paleoanthropologists and modern anthropologists, who in turn draw on such fields as linguistics and genetics. No thinking and believing Christian is phased by what is known about life on earth and the manner in which it developed. The tons of evidence unearthed up to now are as nothing to his faith. Furthermore, he is unafraid of what may be discovered next, proved next. He could even be said to be excited in anticipation of the future and what it holds as regards illuminating the path down which man has come.

And, other than his faith, he has a reason to not bat an eye at science and what it shows us about the past. MES has absolutely no physical evidence to account for the appearance of life on earth. None. There are only theories. There is no conflict with Christian belief because there is nothing "provable" that contradicts it.

About the only Christians who have a problem with evolutionary science are the so called Young Earth Christians. They have two problems. One is the timetable set down by geologic study coupled with the paleontologic record. The other is the diversity of man as evidenced by the variety of races, which is shown by, among other things, their genetic makeup and linguistic patterns.

As regards the geologic evidence, the earth has been the scene of a number of catastrophic geologic events since its creation. What Young Earthers would have us believe, in essence, is that one great catastrophe compressed into a few thousand years is sufficient to account for all the changes to the earth that geology and/or paleontology have shown to have occurred. Make no mistake about it. Catastrophe and the earth are old dance partners. The pounding the globe takes upon the arrival of a big rock from space every few hundred thousand years or every few million years is well documented. The current theory of the disappearance of the dinosaurs is that a big falling object (perhaps coupled with wide scale volcanic action unconnected with the appearance of the space rock) caused climate change on a massive scale over a short period of time. (The "one-two punch" theory.) Exit the dinosaurs. The facts, the hard data, presented by either body of work, the full of geology or the full of paleontology, are enough to crush the life out of any theory that the earth and life on it are only a few thousand or a few tens of thousands of years old. Catastrophes included.

Then there's the diversity of man. The Young Earthers would have us believe that Noah and his three sons and their wives, the four couples in all, account for the broad tapestry that represents what is now human kind. Even if the couples were long lived, their progeny could not account for the way things are. Remember, it's not a question of numbers but of diversity. The diversity of man as can easily be observed by looking at his globally distributed characteristics is strong evidence of the hollowness of the Young Earth theory. Grab the data from linguistics and genetics and it smothers the idea that man has only been evolving for a few thousand years.

Some "regular" Christians are embarrassed by the shouting of the Young Earthers, and some other Christians feel sorry for them. And for obvious reasons.

How can someone be a Christian and believe in evolution at the same time? Most Christians are unphased by what science, driven by the relentless curiosity of the human mind, has shown us about the past history of our planet and about ourselves. Some may even see God's handiwork in the layers of rock within the Grand Canyon or the fossilization of old bone or in the molecular spiral that is DNA.

First answer by Justaskalexis. Last edit by Quirkyquantummechanic. Contributor trust: 278 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 27 [recommend question]

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