BYU professor: Man evolved from apes
(KUTV) Can you be a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and still believe that man evolved from apes? A BYU biology associate professor believes you can -- and he's hoping to convince others in a new book he's written.
The book is called "Evolving Faith, Wanderings of a Mormon Biologist."
"I don't believe there is a conflict in the two," said Steven L. Peck. "They don't need to choose between these two. They're both viable and legitimate ways of viewing the world."
Peck, has been a biology professor for BYU for the past 15 years. He says one of the big misconceptions is that they don't teach evolution at the LDS university. But he says they not only teach it, scientist study it, and write papers about it.
He says he is a faithful and committed Mormon who believes that God created the world and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But he believes God used evolution to do all this.
"The scriptures don't really give us any information on how our bodies were created. It says from the dust of the earth and that's exactly what evolution says," said Peck. "There is no reason they both can't be completely true and informative."
The LDS church does not have an official statement on evolution, but President Russell M. Nelson did speak of science and religion while dedicating BYU's Life Science Building in April.
"There is no conflict between science and religion. conflict only arises from an incomplete knowledge of either science or religion or both ... whether truth comes from a scientific laboratory or by revelation from the Lord, it is compatible," Nelson said.
Peck's book is now on sale at LDS book stores, including Deseret Book.
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