Question This might not sound intelligent, figuring that I am 16 years old and I do not have an extensive vocabulary as I would like. But, getting to the question, If we ever find out if there is really a God in some shape or form and that the evolutionary theory or "darwinism" is in fact not true, do you believe that it would be mass destruction and chaos in this world due to the fact that many people's beliefs have gone to waste? -Joseph S.

Accepted:
October 25, 2005

Comments

If someone's belief about something turns out to be wrong, that doesn't show that his belief was "wasted". Perhaps it was his false belief that led others (or himself) later to arrive at a correct belief. True beliefs usually don't spring into being from nothing; they gradually emerge from a fertile soup of false beliefs. And this process is usually gradual enough that arriving at the truth doesn't have the dislocating consequences you mention.

Dear Joseph, thank you for your question. What reaction the world would have to the scenario you envision is an empirical question better answered by a sociologist or a social psychologist. However, let me just note that when Evolution by Natural Selection started to be popularized in the Nineteenth Century, many saw that it tended to take the wind out of the Argument from Design. Many theists were indeed quite upset about this, and that is no small part of why Darwin met with such hostility. But the result was not "mass destruction and chaos." So it is not clear to me why mass destruction and chaos would result from the tables turning in the other direction.

Also, my guess is that many natural scientists who stake their research careers on Evolution by Natural Selection's being true would be *surprised* in this scenario, but rational enough to face the facts as you imagine them. If in fact they could be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that ENS is false, and that theism is true, then perhaps they would just say, "So be it," and start looking for another career. Why riot when the facts are obviously against you?