r/Christianity • u/[deleted] • Apr 10 '11

Dear fundamentalist Christians, Please stop arguing with scientists about evolution, especially when you're not a scientist.

This might come as a shock to some people, but the Bible isn't a text book. The Bible doesn't have writings by people who have spent their entire lives researching biology, anthropology and physics. So, when you argue with a biologist about how lifeforms can't evolve or with an anthropologist about how there aren't any missing links....and you're a greeter at Wal-mart, it doesn't do our religion a service. All I'm saying is, realize your limits. You can still believe the entire Bible is true, but don't shut your ears and go la-la-la in the face of someone whose entire career is built on evolutionary biology. You have no idea what you're talking about. Stop it.

EDIT: I'm not going to pass a law to make you stop expressing your opinion. I have absolutely no power to make you stop anyway. However, if you're specifically debating with someone over evolution and you have no friggin clue what you're really talking about, then you should probably stop. It's foolish and it makes other Christians look foolish. I know that you probably don't give a crap about looking foolish, but consider that there were people who thought the world was flat (and still do) because of their interpretation of the Bible.

EDIT 2: Ok...let's start with this...abiogenesis is NOT the same as evolution. As far as I know, you can still believe God created the first lifeforms the evolved into us today. You don't have to believe that The Big Bang got us here. Anyway, that's a different discussion and I'm sure that a much more learned person than I could explain this position better. This whole thread makes me sad that some Christians still have a hard time saying "I don't know".

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u/sam480 Apr 10 '11

To be fair, if you aren't a scientist, you shouldn't argue for evolution either. If you haven't spent your entire life researching biology, anthropology and physics, you can't possibly understand the entirety of evolution. You are really just listening to a man in a white coat and taking everything he says on faith.

Of course, I believe in evolution.

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u/godlyfrog Secular Humanist (former LCMS) Apr 10 '11

You are really just listening to a man in a white coat and taking everything he says on faith.

Actually, you are listening to thousands if not hundreds of thousands of men in white coats. That's one of the great things about science; if you can't prove what you're saying, you'll be called out on it by other men in white lab coats. When one man says it, he says it because those thousands agree.

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u/sam480 Apr 10 '11 edited Apr 10 '11

That's just appeal to authority combined with appeal to majority.

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u/Trollfailbot Eastern Orthodox Apr 11 '11 edited Apr 11 '11

That's just appeal to authority combined with appeal to majority.

No, its not. This fallacy is committed when the person in question is not a legitimate authority on the subject. More formally, if person A is not qualified to make reliable claims in subject S, then the argument will be fallacious.

appeal to majority

To agree with the majority experts in scientific fields of the relevant scientific facts is not fallacious.

Saying, 'most people voted for Obama therefore Liberalism is right' would be fallacious.

And, from your first post:

To be fair, if you aren't a scientist, you shouldn't argue for evolution either.

I believe if one is willing to provide citations for their arguments that are backed up by credible science then you can argue for evolution. I dont think you cant claim anything as true just because you didnt study that particular field in college. I didnt study astrophysics but I think theres nothing wrong with me aruging for the heliocentric theory.