Charles Darwin was born in 1809, and his theory is probably the most well-know and believed. He argued that life has evolved and developed from very simple structures, Evolution. He said because of natural selection and survival of the fittest, only species that have adapted quick enough have survived. This became the most popular theory and some people believe that he has obliterated the thought of God making the universe.
I believe that the beginning of the universe was not Evolution. I think it was something quite amazing, not entirely like the First Cause, but something did trigger it off. It might not have been God, but I know that it could not have been an accident, because something so well structured, something so perfectly made must have been made somewhere. With actual life on earth I do think it has something to do with Evolution. Gradually animals and plants adapt to their habitat and change, ever so slightly. So I think it is part Evolution and part First Cause that landed us here today, on purpose and by accident all at the same time.
Different religions and cultures all have different opinions regarding the start of the universe and God. This is because most religions were founded in completely separate parts of the world, and there they all thought up their own individual theory on how the universe was created. They usually all link back to the main three ideas; they just have different stories and Gods to explain it.
Christians, Jews and Catholics all believe in the same God. They believe in Paley’s theory, that God was the designer of everything and that his creation was much to complex to leave to chance. They tell the story of how God made the universe in just seven days, which, in the eyes of scientists and atheists, is impossible.
Hinduism believes in one main God, Brahman, but because he is so powerful they split him into thousands of different Gods, all with its own personality representing Brahman. Hindus believe that the universe undergoes an endless cycle of creation, preservation and dissolution. This is very much the same as the First Cause theory, and gives enough reason for Hindus to believe God is real.
Atheists and Agnostics believe in Evolution. This is because they do not have a God or religion to say otherwise, or tell a different story of how the universe was created. They rely more on fact than belief so Evolution seems like the simplest explanation for the world we live in. Although Darwin’s theory is the most scientific, even Stephen Hawkins explains how the universe could have been created using any of the three main theories here, “Most people believe that God allows the universe to evolve according to a set of laws and does not intervene to break those laws…but it would still be up to God to wind up the clock work and choose to start it off. So long as the universe had a beginning we could suppose it had a creator.”
Most religions believe Paley’s theory, that God designed the universe and he is the creator. Of course, the stories that suggest this are very imaginative and the religious followers today still believe in God and worship him, but are more drawn towards Darwin’s explanation of the beginning of the universe. Some believe in Aquinas’s argument of the First Cause, and that he set of a chain reaction that led to life on Earth. But there are hardly any faiths that believe in Evolution, not written down in their holy book anyway. This is most likely because they believe that God is all powerful. They want him to be the creator and the designer of everything. To them God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. If he wasn’t all these things, then the praying, the places of worship and the strict rules that they have to follow would have been for nothing. To them God is everything and without him, what do they have?
This is why, if ever you tell a Christian, “There is too much suffering in the world. God cannot exist,” they always have an intelligent answer ready. The most common reason is ‘because God gave people free will’. After Noah and the Ark, there was a rainbow in the sky, and that was Gods promise never to interfere again. Of course, that doesn’t excuse natural disasters like Haiti or the Tsunami, but there are stories of people who had been ‘told’ by God to get out of there, that something is going to happen. Another card Christians play is ‘everything happens for a reason’. God has a set path for everyone on Earth and it’s our chose to follow it or not. Christians say that innocent people to unfortunately die, but it is done so we learn from our mistakes, so we can try and become better. It is hard to think that everything is done for a purpose. What do you think?