I generally have a significant number of students in my classes who label themselves “creationists.” I could simply ignore them and teach from the evolutionary standpoint, but this in-your-face approach only alienates, while I prefer to engage. So I have adopted a different strategy: I address them directly and attempt to show why they should believe in evolution despite their religious beliefs (and then proceed to teach from the evolutionary standpoint). I have had some success with this method. 

There are those who may frown upon such a method, claiming it gives credence to Intelligent Designers. Yes, it does; but I see ID as the first step toward evolution, and, to give a hat tip to Hegel here, one must often believe falsehoods in order to be led to the truth. So put aside worries and tell me what you think of the approach.

Here is my thesis: taking a stance against a received scientific position will always be detrimental to Christianity. The position I have in mind is Evolution, but it should apply to many more. There are at least three reasons why many Christians are adamantly against evolution: 

1) The theory of evolution contradicts a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation story. 

Well, yes, it does, but the literal vs figurative debate is a debate on par with angels dancing on pinheads. Christians waste their time with such minutia, unless you think you have to live your life according to the rules of the Old Testament (and no one does, except those who stone their neighbors for not honoring the sabbath, sequester their wives and daughters when they menstruate, etc.). 

2) The theory of evolution contradicts the idea that God created the universe. 

Not necessarily. There are many ways of allowing a creator into the theory of evolution, from starting the process to guiding its progress.  

3) The theory of evolution contradicts the idea that God exists.  

This leads us to the heart of the matter. My approach says: if anything within a scientific theory turns out to contradict the tenets of Christianity, just claim it to be a mystery. This is, after all, where faith comes in. The Christian should say: “No matter what evidence is unearthed in favor of evolution theory, I will continue to believe in God.” (Not “I will continue to believe in creationism.”) When the Copernican theory first threatened the Ptolemaic which was embraced by Christianity, many theologians held that acceptance of the Copernican view was diametrically opposed to Christianity itself, but time proved them wrong. The Copernican theory was eventually embraced and Christianity adapted. Christianity will also adapt to evolution. Christians should allow scientists to do science, and blithely believe anything that becomes part of the Standard Scientific Viewpoint, even if it seems to contradict God’s existence, because the Christian “knows” (by faith) that it doesn’t; that God exists, and nothing will threaten that belief. 

I see children raised in Christian homes who are forced to disavow a major scientific position, which is embraced by and interconnected with hundreds of other fields. This means they will never get a job or have an influence in mainstream science anywhere in the world. A Christian who believes the world was created 4-10,000 years ago will never do serious work in plate tectonics, paleontology, astronomy, geophysics, etc., all of which have long ago accepted that the world is billions of years old. If you are an adamant opponent of evolution theory because you are afraid accepting it would require you to no longer believe in God, then you simply lack faith in God.

Prehistoric humans may have believed in gods because these beliefs explained the unexplainable, but this is no longer why most people believe. That ancient rationale falls under what the German theologian Bonhoeffer once called the “god of the gaps.” Your god is a god of the gaps if you use him to fill in the gaps that science has not yet explained. This is a dangerous rationale for belief, because as science fills in the gaps one by one your rationale for believing in god dissipates. All too many Christians unconsciously hold a god of the gaps position, which explains why they are so insistent on denying evolution. True faith in god demands that no one need deny established scientific positions. Your faith in god should be impervious to such and to take a stand against evolution is to say that you lack faith--that if we let evolution become accepted, then God is in danger. I don’t think God is worried. Should you be?