Creationism versus Evolution: Conflict or Concordance ???

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Creationism versus Evolution:

Conflict or Concordance ???

Posted by Zia H. Shah MD - Twitter: @ZiahShah1

Epigraph: ”It was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls.” 

Max Planck (1858-1947)

Source: Muslim Sunrise

By By Hassan Khan

In recent years, the creationism versus evolution controversy has received much attention.

Christian fundamentalists have denied the validity of the theory of evolution, attempted to change

school syllabi, and even taken the debate to civil courts. Atheists, in their own way, have used

the theory to discredit Christianity and other religions. 

This controversy appears to be a classic case of conflict between science and religion.

The Promised Messiah(as), the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and other Ahmadi

scholars have, however, always maintained that there is never a conflict between the Act of God

and the Word of God.

 In other words, nature, and Islam’s Holy Scripture, the Qur’an, do not contradict each other.

Any apparent conflict arises because of the misunderstanding of scripture or nature. 

So what is the source of misunderstanding in this controversy? First, let us see what the two points of view are.

Creationism refers to the view that God created the universe out of nothing and then placed on earth different species of plants, animals and human beings. There is, of course, a wide range of opinions among creationists as to how this happened and the time scales involved. However, the central idea is the same, which is that a super natural being has brought into existence all life on earth through super natural processes.

Evolution, on the other hand, is the theory stating that the diverse life forms we see around us have all emerged as a result of natural processes. It asserts that complex organisms like human beings and other animals have evolved from simpler organisms through small modifications over a long period of time.  Evolution, a scientific theory first expressed by Charles Darwin in 1859, is considered to be on par with Newton’s laws of motions, Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

…

It appears that there is no conflict between science and religion, at least, in the faith as taught

by the Promised Messiah (as), the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community,..

As a consequence, Ahmadis believe that human beings were created through a gradual process

of evolution. Adam (as) was not the first man but the first prophet of God.

Read the whole article in Muslim Sunrise

Evolution – What Darwin Never Knew – NOVA PBS Documentary

Read more: http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2013/07/religion-and-science/creationism-versus-evolution-conflict-or-concordance#ixzz2YiKyFNdt