A Yale doctor’s wrestle with evolution and faith
March 11, 2024
The question of whether a belief in God was compatible with evolution occurred to Dr. Samuel Wilkinson early in his medical career. According to the Deseret News, Dr. Wilkinson was a student at Johns Hopkins University at the time and said this debate would follow him over the course of his career.
Wilkinson, now an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale school of medicine stated: “The theory of evolution has been a stumbling block — more than a stumbling block — for people of faith for a long time. This time, it seemed to be at the core of the wrestle I had.”
Wilkinson’s newly released book “Purpose: What Evolution and Human Nature Imply About the Meaning of Our Existence” details his spiritual and intellectual journey to bridge the gap between evolution and faith. His book is the latest contribution to scholarly efforts to reconcile religion and science.
According to a 2019 Gallup poll, Americans remain divided on how humanity came into existence. 40% of U.S. adults do not believe that present-day humans evolved into their present form. Another national study in 2023 showed 24.3% of respondents believed that humans evolved into their current form as part of a process controlled by God.
In a recent interview with the Deseret News, Wilkinson said: “The notion of purpose in biology has been heretical. If biological life is merely the result of the blind forces of nature, then why are we — as products of a random biological process — so driven to find meaning and purpose?”
Wilkinson also expressed fascination with the broad moral range of our species. He stated: “We have this dual potential within us, we exhibit altruism and selfishness, aggression and cooperation, lust and love. And it’s up to us to determine which parts of our nature we will allow to dominate. And when you combine our dual potential with this notion that we have free will, it seems like life is a test, and we have to choose between these competing dispositions within us.”
Wilkinson says working on the book has been a faith-building endeavor and that even though he still has questions, he’s confident he will one day have the answers he seeks.
Photo: Top, Credit: Zoe Petersen/Deseret News