Evolution

From Almeopedia

The theory of evolution explains how living forms change, from unicellular organisms, through plants and animals, to intelligent beings like men.

Though Almea is on the technological level of XVII century Europe, Verdurian scholars have already discovered the theory of evolution. They haven't yet realized all the implications of the theory. They're mostly busy trying to turn the catalogs of nature they already had into evolutionary trees, and fighting over such issues as the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Very few derive any atheistic conclusions yet.

The theory of evolution is not universally accepted on Almea, but it was not as controversial as on Earth, for several reasons. The major difference is that Eretald ceased to be religiously homogenous long ago. So there is not a single religious system to react to it; and people have had several centuries to get used to the compartmentalization of religion. Thus, evolution can be examined as a scientific theory, rather than as a tool to attack a monolithic faith with. (A few do see it that way - Dašcor Čurmey for instance - and are widely reviled for it.)

Eleďi have their creation story in the Count of Years, which discusses multiple creations of Thinking Kinds, mostly using intermediaries. Humans were created with the aid of the iliu. Evolution is much less threatening to such an idea of indirect creation, than to Christian or Islamic version.

Caďinorian paganism is so varied that it has no single opinion on the issue. Some priests hate the idea, not so much because the accounts of the Aďivro are final, but because they think evolution denies the existence and primacy of the spirit. On the other hand, it's a long tradition within paganism that the philosophers can ignore the precepts of the priests.

Jippirasti doesn't have a notion of creation, and isn't much concerned with how humans appeared, only how they are to behave.

Endajue easily accepted the idea of evolution, since it has no gods; but it too insists that evolution cannot explain the spirit.

Author: Stilgar