进化论在美国150年——兼谈宗教与科学

Evolution in America for 150 Years:Religion and Science

1859年英国生物学家查尔斯.达尔文发表了《物种起源》,标志着生物进化论的诞生。进化论的思想对当时支配西方的基督教世界观产生了严重的挑战。美国是深受基督教影响的国家,在过去的150年间美国基督徒对进化论的看法非常多元,既有接受者,也有反对者。反对进化论的并非反科学的进化论,而是反作为世界观的进化论。时至今日,进化论仍没有被美国人普遍接受,进化论与基督教仍处于一种微妙的紧张中。在美国,围绕着进化论的冲突,并非科学与宗教之间本质上的冲突,而是不同利益的人与人之间的冲突。

English naturalist Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859, which marked the birth of the biological evolution theory. Evolution poses serious challenges to the dominant Christian world outlook in the West. The United States of America is a nation deeply influenced by Christianity. In the past 150 years, the attitudes of American Christians toward evolution have become diversified. Some American Christians accept Darwin＇s theory of evolution, while some oppose it. What many American Christians oppose is not the scientific basis of evolution, but the idea of evolution as a world outlook. Tension does exist between some Christian groups and people who believe in evolution. Up to now, evolution has not yet been generally accepted in America, where the conflict around evolution is not the conflict between science and religion in essence, but among people with different interests.