Evolution. Is it just a scientific theory or fact, or perhaps a source of philosophical thought which one adopts as an evolutionist or chooses when one has a particular worldview? Evolution actually has philosophical ramifications, ones I want to examine in this essay. Evolution means several things and must be examined in their context in each appearance. One meaning is "to change." We can speak of a baseball team's "evolution" from a poor team to a championship-caliber team. Evolution is also the belief, not "fact" as Stephen Gould has supposed when he spoke of the "fact" of evolution akin to the fact of gravity, that the universe and life on this planet sprang up and rose to existence by natural processes we can discover and which do not owe their control to any divine being. Most evolutionists are atheists or atheist humanists and this is because while evolution is not apparent as they think, it is believed by them because, after all, according to their philosophy there is no god that could do any creating. Evolution can be a testable theory of life's origins, but for atheists and humanists, no matter what problems evolution may carry scientifically, evolution cannot be false.
             Evolution carries with it a philosophical system known by many names, including "naturalism" and "materialism." Furthermore, evolution is believed most often by those who adhere to a certain philosophical frame of thought. In this system of thought, man is "morally free" to do as he pleases as long as his fellows agree. You need not obey a God, but only obey yourself (or the people in charge). Atheist evolutionists acknowledge this and show great fear when their philosophical base is threatened. Perhaps one of the greatest myths of our century is that evolutionists, at least atheist ones, look at evolution with unbiased eyes. Religionists are in a dogmatic crusade, they say, against "pure reason" (to borrow a phrase from Kant) and as such cannot be trusted...