I ran across this blog, The Structure of Scientific Evolutions, Evolution’s place in a created universe, by William Saletan today and felt it contributed to the discussion of “spiritual influences” that may be at play verses an evolutionary-only framing of existence.

Saletan summarizes a number of writers on the subject and I will offer a few excerpts for you here:

“Conway Morris affirmed evolution as a mechanical explanation of animal and human development. But he also argued that evolution takes place in an ordered world. Because similar features evolve repeatedly in different contexts, there must be something about the world that favors such features.”

“You can’t assume that an underlying order constrains biological evolution in the same way that the underlying order of chemistry constrains phase changes. But Conway Morris suggests, based on evolutionary convergence, that to some extent it does.”

“But Wright doesn’t think our consequent religious belief systems evolved in the same way that these underlying mechanisms did. He argues that: ‘biological evolution isn’t the only great “designer” at work on this planet.’”

“If he (Morris) is right, two much bigger questions start to become serious. One is how far this architecture of the universe extends. If it influences developments at the chemical and biological levels, does it extend to the next level of complexity, the mind? How about the level beyond that, society? Are there mental and cultural laws? Does some pre-existing order favor, and thereby produce by adaptation or selection, certain kinds of cultural development?

The other question is what to think of this architecture. Is it just the way things are? Is it creation? Is it God?”

“Natural selection has become a tremendous tool for understanding biology. But it wasn’t the first kind of science we invented, and it won’t be the last. The notion that major components of our society or its development, such as religion, must be explained entirely through natural selection is no more scientific than the notion that they must be explained through physics or chemistry. All of these sciences, these levels of order, work together. We are physical, chemical, biologically designed, culturally guided organisms.”

“So who’s right in this debate? Is religion a product of natural selection, cultural evolution, or God’s truth?”

Note: The juxtaposition of these excerpts makes this short synopsis more readable, but admittedly, unless the article is read in its entirety, they could be misleading.

Joel Jacobs, 2009, All Rights Reserved