Mormons and Evolution

The subject addressed by this blog involves ongoing, multipart discussions. This post, linked permanently on the sidebar and updated as appropriate, serves as a roadmap to my contributions.

A reconciliation of Mormonism with evolution would require an appreciation of the issues at stake for believers.

• A Place at the Table: There must be assurance that evolution does not preclude God’s existence.
• A Redeeming Place at the Table: There must be assurance that evolution does not preclude God’s miraculous intervention in the world, and his ability to give us life beyond this world.

A reconciliation of Mormonism with evolution would require coming to grips with our understanding of Church doctrine—what the very notion of “doctrine” is, what it isn’t, and how various doctrines touch on evolution.

• On Doctrine: For purposes of communal coherence, the leading councils of the Church have the right to establish doctrine that defines standards of behavior and the boundaries of official discourse; but what is “official,” or “canonized,” or bound in leather at any given time is not pristine, perfected, glistening and crystalline Truth, but only a community’s best collective contemporary judgment and perception of it.
• An Ambiguous Ecclesiastical Constitution: The Authority of the President: D&C 107 describes the authority of the President of the Church as comprehensive, but not unlimited.
• A Rollback of the Classical Mormon Perspective on Humanity’s Origin and Destiny?: Some statements by President Hinckley suggest he may be open to the idea that God is only the designer of Adam’s physical body, and not its literal father, as the traditional Mormon perspective would have it.

In making a reconciliation with evolution, what should Mormons think of arguments from design? What should their attitude be towards the teaching in public schools of so-called Intelligent Design?

• Do all things denote there is a God?: Is Alma’s teleological argument consistent with Joseph Smith’s mature views on the nature of God, and also with the ancient Hebrew worldview from which Nephite culture sprang?
• Two Classes of Argument from Design, Which Both Fail: Problems with the view of ‘God as First Cause’ are largely avoided by Joseph’s mature anthropomorphic view of God; but the resulting perspective of ‘God as Engineer’ does not make for a good teleological argument either, because of known examples of ‘specialness amidst randomness’ and ‘specialness from randomness.’
• Response to God and science: Because the role of God in creation is not testable, it does not belong in scientific theories; hence if Intelligent Design is taught at all it ought not be in science class, but in other areas of the curriculum, or in other venues.

What attempts at reconciling Mormonism with evolution have been made in the past?

• What Did Nibley Think of Evolution?: Nibley goes further than most Mormons in taking the findings of science seriously in thinking about the meaning of scriptural creation accounts, but in the end his engaging and bold approach fails on scientific grounds, right where it matters most: the origin of man.

How are ideas related to reconciliation of Mormonism with evolution received among our readers? Informal polls (collected here) provide feedback that, while less than statistically representative of Church membership, is nevertheless interesting.

• No Death Before the Fall: A Poll: Do our readers believe in a paradisiacal creation, with no death of any organism on Earth until after Adam’s Fall? By an overwhelming majority, no.
• Procreation or Design: Pick your Poison: How do our readers conceptualize God’s role in the creation of human physical bodies? Early indications point to a preference for God the Geneticist.

Why is the connection between evolution and God’s existence so emotionally charged? In a previous post I argued that evolution is unpalatable to some believers because it seems to remove what is, for some, a primary evidence of God’s existence: “the testimony of His creations.” I pointed out that this is the zeroth-order answer the Church offers to outsiders in answer to the question, How can I know God exists? At the risk of pedantically elaborating the obvious, in this post and a subsequent one I will discuss two reasons why debates about evolution—and perceived implications for the existence of God—take on a stature much larger than our insignificant intramural Mormon debate, and rise to the level of culture war. (more »)

Mc Conkie’s sixth objection is where he really wants to lay down the gauntlet. If you accept evolution, you must reject Christ. I have already posted my thoughts on the subject, but since they apparently were not clear enough, perhaps I can elaborate here.

Our Lord’s atoning sacrifice is the cornerstone on which the whole gospel of salvation rests. For this atonement to come to pass, two things were necessary: 1. Christ had to come into the world as the literal Son of an immortal, personal Father, a Father who had life in himself and from whom his offspring in mortality would inherit power over death. 2. The fall of Adam had to introduce temporal and spiritual death into the world, for the atonement in its very nature was designed to ransom all things that fell from the effects of that fall. All forms of life are ransomed from the temporal effects of the fall in that they are resurrected and become immortal.
Now if Adam did not fall and bring death into the world, there would be no need for the atoning sacrifice of Christ. If there were no atonement to ransom fallen beings and creatures from the effects of the fall, there would be no resurrection, no immortality, no salvation, no eternal life; and if all these things should vanish away, we could discard God himself and our faith would be vain.

I imagine that to anybody who has been following my posts, my response will be fairly predictable.

This is where I accused Joseph Fielding Smith, and Bruce R. Mc Conkie of trying to score easy wins against evolution. For instance, consider Elder Smith’s ultimatum:

If, therefore, there was no fall, there was no need of an atonement, hence the coming into the world of the Son of God as the Savior of the world is a contradiction, a thing impossible. Are you prepared to believe such a thing as that?

Clearly JSFII and BRM had their reasons for rejecting evolution. I have been trying to address them in every post so far. But statements like these can hardly be considered shining examples of calm reasoning. They intentionally present a dichotomy (which we are assuming must be false) so as to push their intended and obviously biased audience away from evolution. It is because of statements like these, I have noted, “that these people now feel obligated to act like idiots in the rest of the worlds opinion by denying carbon dating, fossil records, the age of the earth and so on. And all this through no great fault of their own.”

That said, let’s briefly address the objection. We saw that there are versions of the fall that preserve the necessary doctrines without the popularized stories of the Garden. We all came here from an immortal, spiritual paradise in God’s presence to this “lone and dreary” world. We all sin. We all die. Thus regardless of whether there was an actual Adam or not (a topic which I have not yet addressed) we all still need salvation. “We believe that mankind will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.”

We still need to be saved from the effects of the fall, but the fall that we need to be saved from is our fall, not Adam’s. As I also mentioned earlier, this problem results from JSFII’s and BRM’s using the Garden story as a form of theodicy. Adam did not introduce sin. It has always existed, even in the spirit world. Adam did not introduce death, it has always been part of life here on earth. But we were all introduced to both death and a significantly greater degree of sin upon our fall from heaven to come here.

Summary: Some have unfortunately declared any attempt at reconciliation between evolution and the gospel to be a lost cause. This, they think, is due to evolutions rejection of the Garden story and consequently the Atonement. Such fears, however, are without foundation.

Earlier I discussed some of the issues surrounding how Adam and Eve were created, and listed two tentative suggestions for reconciliation with science. Here I will discuss some of the issues involved in placing Adam and Eve in time and geography. Up front I want to point out that I am not a geneticist, archeologist, or anthropologist. My understanding of the issues involved come primarily from writings for non-expert audiences.

The LDS Model:

The traditional LDS placement of Adam and Eve is straightforward. Using Biblical chronology and other supportive scriptures, Adam and Eve became mortal around 6,000 years ago. Scriptural statements place the future (and by implication the past) site of Adam-ondi-ahman in Missouri. A number of personal accounts state that Joseph Smith identifed Jackson county as the site of the Garden of Eden, and identified some stones as part of an altar that Adam built after leaving the garden. Some presume that Noah was responsible for transfering the human race to the Eastern Hemisphere.

The Scientific Models:

One of the components of evolutionary theory is the concept of common descent–that all living organisms descend from previously living organisms and that ultimately, all living organisms share common ancestors. For humans this means that our physical bodies share common ancestry with other primates. Long ago it was recognized that the closest living relative, with which we share a common ancestor, is the chimpanzee. This hypothesis is supported by both anatomical, archeological, and genetic evidence. Since chimpanzees are only known to have lived in Africa, the origination of humans was hypothesized to have taken place there.

Accumulating evidence has continued to support Africa as the place of human origins. The oldest hominid (including Homo sapiens) remains are found there. Genetic diversity in humans is greatest in Africa and less diverse outside of Africa, which suggests that populations throughout the rest of the world are descended from a subset of early African populations.

The relatedness of hominid species is still under debate. As I understand it, the current dominant model of human development and expansion is called “Out of Africa 2.” In this model, modern humans developed in Africa after other hominids had migrated to Asia and Europe. Modern humans eventually moved out of Africa and replaced other hominids who became extinct. The other main model is called the “Multiregional” model. In this model, early hominids moved out of Africa to colonize Asia and Europe as described above, but modern humans arose gradually through genetic mixing of these populations. Other models contain a mixture of these two models. One recent paper, based on genetic evidence, argues for genetic mixing with several major migrations, including three from Africa.

Below is a rough, brief timeline of significant events in hominid evolution:

>1 million years ago: First hominids leave Africa
200,000 years ago: First anatomical Homo sapiens in Africa
~160,000 years ago: “Mitochondrial Eve”
~60,000 years ago: “Y-chromosome Adam”
40-50,000 years ago: Development of culture (more sophisticated tools, art, ceremonial burial of dead)
15-30,000 years ago: Colonization of North America
10,000 years ago: Development of Agriculture
3-4,000 years ago: Development of written language

Placing Adam and Eve in light of current scientific understanding and without additional revelation is highly problematic. The qualities associated with Adam and Eve in the scriptures include intelligence, writing, and agriculture. Further, the LDS model places Adam and Eve in North America around 6,000 years ago. This timing is reasonably consistent with agriculture and writing, but is inconsistent with genetic or geneological ancestry to all living humans. Placing Adam and Eve in a position of genetic or geneological ancestry is inconsistent with writing and agriculture, as well as with placement in North America. The concepts of “mitochondrial Eve” and “Y-chromosome Adam” are not helpful here because, in spite of their naming, they do not refer to the biblical persons. That this is true is evident from the different times that these two individuals lived.

With scientific debate still surrounding how early hominids relate to each other it seems premature to pose any scenario that accounts for Adam and Eve, much less their placement in North America. Such a proposal would also require revelatory clarification on the timing and geography of Adam and Eve, and whether the identification of stones derived from Adam’s altar was a matter of speculation or literal truth. (Duane Jeffery recently pointed out the problem these stones pose for a worldwide flood scenario.) Until information is more forthcoming, on both sides, it seems best not to force a reconciliation. Speculation is all we can do right now.

Further Reading
There are a number of explanations of human development and migration available on the internet. I will list just a few here.
Origins of Modern Humans: Multiregional or Out of Africa, by Donald Johanson
Alan Templeton, Out of Africa again and again
Becoming Human
Out of Africa, EvoWiki
Human mtDNA Migrations

There are a number of books that likely give good general explanations of current scientific thought. Since science moves, sometimes quickly, it is important to seek out information that is as fresh as possible. It is also important to read from multiple sources in order to not mistake one person’s opinion for generally accepted conclusions. This advice applies to all scientific fields.