Evolution encourages promiscuity and lust

From EvoWiki

Contents 1 Claim 2 Source 3 Responses 4 Fallacies contained in this claim 5 External Links 6 Related claims 7 See Also 8 Acknowledgments

Claim

Evolutionists promote the concepts of promiscuity and lust, pointing out that the quest to produce many offspring is a main goal of organisms under Darwinism.

Source

• Morris, Henry M., 2000 (Aug.). Evil-ution. Back to Genesis 140: a-c.

Responses

1. The theory of evolution is meant to give a description of natural biological phenomena, not a prescriptive set of morals by which one should live his or her life.
2. This argument ignores that 'fitness' in Survival of the fittest differs between different populations, between different environments, and among different species. Promiscuity is but one strategy a species could employ, and is of questionable efficiency for humans, whose offspring require enormous effort, care and resources to successfully raise to maturity.
3. Assume for the moment that promiscuity really is the best strategy to increase evolutionary fitness. Would this necessarily mean that people should engage in promiscuity? Most humans probably don't live their lives trying to maximize their evolutionary fitness. Even if someone did, this wouldn't be the fault of the theory of evolution; it would be a result of their own moral philosophy which tells them to do whatever it takes to spread their genes. Such a belief, by the way, requires only a belief in so-called "microevolution."
4. This argument also contradicts another common creationist claim: that Evolution promotes abortion. If evolution told people to have many offspring, why would it encourage abortion?
5. "The quest to produce many offspring is a main goal of" many religions (e.g. Gen 8:17, 9:7). And unlike science, religion does provide moral guidelines.

Fallacies contained in this claim

• Appeal to Consequences ("sin is consequence of the ToE, so ToE is wrong)
• Is-Ought (confusing "organisms do reproduce" with "organisms should reproduce")
• Straw Man (Evolutionists encourage promiscuity)

External Links

• Mark Isaak's page for this claim [1]
  • CreationWiki's comments [2]

Related claims

• Evolution is the foundation of an immoral worldview
• Evolution teaches that we are animals and to behave as such
• Homosexuality receives approval from evolutionists

See Also

• Why is Creationism not a Scientific Theory?

Acknowledgments