Evolution and Religion

As known science geek in my circle of friends, I'll occasionally be asked my opinion on something science-y.  This is my response to someone asking about a creationist curriculum to teach high school science:

Let me start by saying that while I believe Heavenly Father created the Earth and all things in it, I do NOT believe in a 6000 year old earth.

 I've seen how God can span many orders of magnitude from atoms at 10^-12 meters to galaxies at 10^12 meters and don't see why we need to put him in the human mindset that can't handle more then about 1000 without switching reference frames.

 My belief is that like a good agile programmer, God created life in steps and reused his code (DNA and genes) as he perfected each of his creations. The spirit of man is from the pre-existent spirits and it is this breath of life given to the earliest human that turned it from a walking ape into a true human being. Thus I can NOT recommend a science series that sticks to a 6000 year old earth and ignores even the basics of what sexual reproduction does for the diversity of species (one small example from the first chapter of the Bio book). The experiments and language look good, but with such a restrictive lens to bias the writing, it won't provide an understanding to go to college or understand the world around us as described in the scientific literature.

 Here's an overview of the First Presidency's statements about evolution: http://biology.byu.edu/DepartmentInfo/EvolutionandtheOriginofMan.aspx

And this especially captures my views:

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MORMONISM

EVOLUTION

The position of the Church on the origin of man was published by the First Presidency in 1909 and stated again by a different First Presidency in 1925:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, declares man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity.... Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes (see Appendix, "Doctrinal Expositions of the First Presidency").

The scriptures tell why man was created, but they do not tell how, though the Lord has promised that he will tell that when he comes again (D&C 101:32-33). In 1931, when there was intense discussion on the issue of organic evolution, the First Presidency of the Church, then consisting of Presidents Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins, and Charles W. Nibley, addressed all of the General Authorities of the Church on the matter, and concluded,

Upon the fundamental doctrines of the Church we are all agreed. Our mission is to bear the message of the restored gospel to the world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology, and anthropology, no one of which has to do with the salvation of the soul of mankind, to scientific research, while we magnify our calling in the realm of the Church....

Upon one thing we should all be able to agree, namely, that Presidents Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund were right when they said: "Adam is the primal parent of our race" [First Presidency Minutes, April 7, 1931].

WILLIAM E. EVENSON

(Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.2)

Reprinted with permission of Macmillan Publishing Company from Encyclopedia of Mormonism, edited by Daniel H. Ludlow. Volume 2, page 478. Copyright 1992 by Macmillan Publishing Company, a division of Macmillan, Inc.