Evolution and me: a personal story (index)

Since Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, the theory of evolution has been, and still is, a subject of intense debate. From the Scopes 'monkey' trial of Tennessee in 1925, to recent debates on Intelligent Design, the subject of evolution has probably been the most hotly discussed scientific theory in modern history. I used to be a creationist, in a sense, but over the years my beliefs have shifted towards evolution. Over the next month or so I will focus on my own personal journey of how I came to accept evolution, and outline what convinced me in the end.

I cover my personal story in the following posts:

• Part 1: The infusion of creationism
• Part 2: The first sparks of realisation
• Part 3: The golden thread

I briefly tackle the question of what is science in:

• Part 4: Science = absolute truth?
• Part 5: Two initial observations
• Part 6: 1.7 seconds of an arc
• Part 7: So . . . is evolution scientific?
  

These are followed by the following posts outlining the evidence that finally convinced me:

• Part 8: Observing is believing?
• Part 9: The unbelievability of change
  
• Part 10: Layers in a trifle
  
• Part 11: A long line of photographs
• Part 12: Why are there no kangaroos in Africa?
• Part 13: Werewolves and human tails
• Part 14: Reading history from my genes
• Part 15: The interesting thing about scurvy
  
• Part 16: Nasty critters in my DNA

Finally, I end off with:

• Part 17: The convergence of evidence

However, before I begin, I want to stress three points:

First, I believe the theory of evolution by natural selection does not disprove that a god (or gods) exists. In fact, there are many Christians who accept the theory of evolution; it doesn’t pose a threat to their faith at all.

Secondly, I did not reach my current belief in evolution because I had problems with Christianity. Nor was it the cause of me losing my faith.

Third, contrary to what some might believe, I did not adopt evolution as an excuse for adopting an 'immoral atheistic' lifestyle. Rather, I accepted the theory of evolution because the evidence for it seems so overwhelming.

But what did I believe before I accepted evolution? I will cover this in my next post.

Next post: The infusion of creationism.