Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

Creation and Evolution: How Do Christians Bridge the Gap? As noted in my previous two posts, the famous Scopes Trial was 90 years ago. The issues at the heart of the 1925 trial continue to divide U.S. Christians. My focus in the previous posts was a consideration of how evolution informs an understanding of psychology in general and the psychology of religion in particular. My focus in this post is to consider why evolution is such a divisive issue for a substantial minority of Christians and what, if anything, may be done to reduce the acrimony and promote peace. A few days ago, news stories appeared about the resignation of respected evangelical philosophy professor, Jim Stump. Stump is a philosopher of science with a degree from Boston University. His former employer, Bethel College (Indiana), prepared a statement on human origins. The resignation appears to have occurred peacefully. Here’s a quote from the ChristianPost . "In considering t...

The Scope of Evolution Includes the Psychology of Religion In 2015, I visited the historic Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee—the site of the famous Scopes “Monkey” Trial. That year marked the 90th anniversary of the proceedings, which began on July 10 and concluded on July 21, 1925. At the heart of the trial was science teacher John Scopes, charged with violating Tennessee law by teaching evolution in a public school. Now, in 2025, I revisit the story in its centennial year, reflecting on how far we've come—and how the debate endures. The arguments presented during the 1925 Scopes Trial may seem like quaint historical disputes—until one considers that a significant minority of Christians in the United States continue to reject scientific explanations for the origins of life in favor of a literal or near-literal interpretation of creation. In 2014, a Gallup poll revealed that 42% of Americans believed God created humans in their present form approximately 10,000 ye...

Evolutionary Psychology and Christianity This week Pope Francis commented on creation and drew lots of media attention. Pope Francis has a huge audience as the leader of most of the world’s Christians— some 1.2 billion out of about 2.2 billion .  Like many scientists who also hold Christian beliefs, the Pope reaffirmed Catholic teaching that there is no contradiction between religious beliefs and scientific theories about origins of the universe (e.g., so called “Big Bang Theory”) or life (theory of evolution).    RNS reported on the story 27 October 2014 . The fact that the story became news in the United States reminds us of the continued teaching of a competitive creation narrative that is presented as incompatible with scientific explanations of the origins of the universe and of life.  They assert that the biblical story of creation in Genesis should be understood in a literal (or close to literal) fashion. Although creationists vary in how t...