Kevbo

That's impossible... free will cannot exist in the presence of an omnipotent, omniscient deity

Will I Am

That's, what *I*said.

emotional

Evolution is Good News. Gospel. Yes, indeed, I'm not joking. And this is how:

First the bad news: Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, so we are all sinners who are going to eternal hell. Granted, a select few will avoid that fate by accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, but the majority will roast in hell for eternity.

Now for the good news: Adam and Eve never existed! We are descended from ape-like ancestors. The Garden of Eden and forbidden fruit and fall of Adam are just myths. No-one's going to hell, and there's no need for anyone to surrender their rational faculties to Jesus. Enjoy life!

Polycrates

For me, one of the great things about being an evolutionist is just the 'wow' factor of the sheer jawdropping amazingness that all this wonderful diverse complexity has come about by natural processes over a hugely long time.
And not just at a macroscopic level, but even more so at the molecular level, where you see thousands of these amazingly clever and complicated systems involving whole strings of different and often bizarre molecules that regulate every facet of our bodily functions. And to think that it was all essentially jury-rigged by basic natural processes, and not some designer's hand, yet has come together to form an amazingly functional and robust whole, to me that is an awesome and inspiring thought. Far more so than just 'God built all these bits of us as they are', which is a thought that does nothing for me. People build really complex cars, God builds really complex people. Meh. Besides, with a 'goddidit' explanation, all our imperfections are a flaw in the design, rather than often something beautiful in themselves.
Far from being degrading, I think it's uplifting, personally.
Yeah, I know I'm a horrible nerd, and there's probably not that many people who share my love for molecular biology, but that's one of the big things that just makes me sit and think and go 'wow'.

Division By Zero

Being an evolutionist makes you less likely to appear on "Fundies Say The Darndest Things."

Personally, I agree with Polycrates completely. I think the process of evolution is far more spectacular than the magic man in the sky waving his hand and poofing us all into existence, fully formed and full of flaws. The result thus far of human evolution- and all other evolution, for that matter- is amazing.

emotional

:notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

Doubting Didymus

My favourite benefit of accepting evolution is the incredible insight it gives into the study of biology. That's a benifit thats fairly specific to biology students, really, but being one myself I find it of immeasurable worth. I see my fellow students plodding through my course with nothing but general boredom, or just as often, with merely some vague 'spiritual' feelings of well being that they say comes from studying wonderful nature. You might have heard evolution denyers who study biology say that they only have to regect a little portion of their studies. Oh how much they are all missing! Everything I have ever studied in biology is illuminated by evolutionary thinking. Just yesterday my class was taking data from an ecological scientific area divided into representative habitats and then placed under strictly controlled burning regimes, in an effort to pin down the ecological effects of fire. I can't even imagine thinking about this question without considering things so basic to evolutionary theory as the adaptations of our native proteacea, such as fire resistant and even fire dependant seed pods, and the information they give us about the evolutionary history of the family. An analogue of this basic need for evolutionary thinking in biological studies comes from literally every thing I study.

Nic Tamzek

I was about to say "Um, we have native proteacea? News to me." ...and then I realized you were from Australia.

Doubting Didymus

Heh. Is there a way to jack up the test size in the location field, I wonder? Perhaps I should just take to hanging corks off my akcubra...

Nic Tamzek

You should end every post with "G'day mate."