Why is evolution so upsetting to those who believe otherwise? Cannot those who believe in Adam and Eve still accept the theory that they were not created overnight — what’s the rush? If science shows beyond a doubt that the universe is fourteen billion years old and the Earth four billion years old and for more than half its life but a ball of fire, is it not reasonable to assume that God was in no hurry to put out the fire?

That Adam and Eve or humankind as we know it took a good deal of time to get it right should not raise hackles even if the slow development of its chain entailed modifying apish nature. The biblical, instantaneous Adam and Eve adds nothing to the quality of human nature; neither does it preclude the obvious savage vestige in all of us, just as there is little control over catastrophic events of nature — in fact, religions seem to welcome nature’s unpredictability as somehow the wrath of God for man’s wrong-doing.

Obviously it is a consummation to be wished that God be in total control, not unlike 57 million voters think the President has a handle on things. However, this would be a symptom of denial in face of the horrible natural events that erupt, let alone human events. No God, other than those conceived by traditional believers, would willingly cause earthquakes resulting in the recent tsunami or horrible disease so often plaguing humankind throughout history to the present: more people die of AIDS each year than the tsunami.

Copyright © 2005 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: January 13, 2005.

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