It is time for Christians to stop arguing about evolution. Here is why: A lot of the things people commonly claim about evolution in these arguments are wrong.

For example, evolution has nothing to say about atheism, creationism, Christianity, any other religion, politics, social issues, the origin of the universe, the meaning of life, the origin of life, how can animals give birth to different animals (they can’t and don’t) why people behave the way they do, whether there was a global flood, whether Adam and Eve were a real couple, whether Jesus rose from the dead, or whether the Bible is true.

Here is what evolution does say—this and only this: Certain environmental conditions can lead to a change in allele frequencies in populations over many generations. If that sounds sciency, it is. Evolution by natural selection is a well-grounded scientific theory, with no theological, social, or other implications. It is equivalent to saying objects attract each other with a force proportional to the product of their masses divided by the square of their distance—the definition of Newton’s theory of gravity. We might as well argue about gravity as about evolution.

Another reason to stop arguing is because everyone agrees that evolution is real, even Answers in Genesis and The Discovery Institute, and all other scientists, religious or not. The AiG model for adaptive radiation after the flood includes evolution by natural selection. Everyone now agrees that “microevolution” is real (thank God, since it has important medical implications). So all the arguments are about the details, as well as some of the consequences of evolutionary dynamics, such as the common ancestry of all extant life starting with LUCA (the Last (i.e. most recent) Universal Common Ancestor—which was not the first living cell).

A third reason is that unless you are a graduate student in biology, it really doesn’t matter if you believe the diversity of species got here by evolution or direct creation—it has no effect on your life, or your faith in Jesus. It only becomes a problem if it leads to a generalized distrust in science, which is then extrapolated to other matters, such as the efficacy of vaccines, the reality of climate change, or the fact that all human populations are members of one human race (which is also in accord with Jesus’s ministry). So, believe as you wish, and stop fighting with those who disagree with you.

And finally, a scientific reason to forget about the evolution debate: Evolution is not the ultimate bedrock of biological science that many think it is. In fact, evolution relies entirely on something else, and follows automatically from it. That something else will be discussed in my next post.