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When and how does evolution interact and possibly conflict with religion?


Evolution is a scientific theory, not a religion. Nevertheless, it interacts with, and even conflicts with relation, delving into aspects of philosophy, religion and other systems of belief. For example, The origin of man is of critical importance to all religions, including atheism. So, many intellectuals try to use the evolution theory to support their ideologies. Evolution has been used as a reference to support naturalism, atheism, racism, communism, capitalism and even Christianity and Islam.

Also, evolution is naturalistic, thus requiring confirmation only by that which can be empirically measured, tested and explained. Thus, all supernatural or metaphysical facts, such as God, angels, devils, and miracles, are non-naturalistic, and fall beyond the scope of empirical science. 

Also, evolution cannot be proof to support God’s existence, nor to support that He is a delusion. If God exists, evolution indicates how He caused life to evolve and diversify. If God does not exist, evolution indicates how life evolved and diversified in His absence. Nevertheless, evolution does not say either of these things; it merely tries to say what evolutionists believe happened. 

Lastly, evolution has no religious features such as prophets, scriptures, rules for behavior, rewards, punishment, worship, topics of life after death or the existence of the soul. Yet, it can be incorporated into any belief system, from the most ardent atheism to literal fundamentalist theism, with any deity or other supernatural entity of choice given credit for using evolution as the mechanism by which life was caused to diversify. This may be considered the neutral vision of the relationship between evolution and religion.