---
title: "Mormon views on evolution"
chunk: 5/8
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_views_on_evolution"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:31:57.700246+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== David O. McKay ===
In a 1952 speech to students at BYU, McKay used the theory of evolution as an example while suggesting that science can "leave [a student] with his soul unanchored." He stated that a professor that denies "divine agency in creation" imposes on the student that life was created by chance. McKay insisted that students should be led to a "counterbalancing thought" that "God is the Creator of the earth", "the Father of our souls and spirits", and "the purpose of creation is theirs (God and Jesus Christ)." In the April 1968 general conference, McKay's son, David, read a message on his father's behalf that was an edited version of the 1952 speech, including the omission of the word "beautiful" when describing the theory of evolution. In 1954, McKay quoted the Old Testament while affirming to members of the BYU faculty that living things only reproduce "after their kind". He quoted Genesis which states, "Let the earth bring forth the living creatures after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and the beast of the earth after his kind."

=== Spencer W. Kimball ===
At a 1975 church women's conference, church president Spencer W. Kimball quoted, "And, I God created man in mine own image, and in the image of mine Only Begotten created I him; male and female created I them." (Kimball added that "the story of the rib, of course, is figurative.") Kimball continued, "we don't know exactly how [Adam and Eve's] coming into this world happened, and when we're able to understand it the Lord will tell us."

=== Ezra Taft Benson ===
Prior to becoming president of the LDS Church, Ezra Taft Benson gave an April 1981 general conference address in which he stated that "the theory of man's development from lower forms of life" is a "false idea". In 1988, after becoming president of the church, Benson published a book counseling members of the church to use the Book of Mormon to counter the theories of evolution. He wrote that "we have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat the falsehoods in socialism, organic evolution, rationalism, humanism, etc." In 1988, Benson published another book that included his earlier warnings about the "deceptions" of Charles Darwin. He wrote that educational institutions serve to mislead youth, which explains—he noted—why the church advises that youth attend church institutions, allowing parents to closely observe the education of their children and clear up "the deceptions of men like . . . Charles Darwin.

=== Gordon B. Hinckley ===
In a 1997 speech at an Institute of Religion in Ogden, Utah, church president Gordon B. Hinckley said: "People ask me every now and again if I believe in evolution. I tell them I am not concerned with organic evolution. I do not worry about it. I passed through that argument long ago." wherein he contrasts "organic evolution" with the evolution and improvement of individuals: In the late 1990s, Hinckley recalled his university studies of anthropology and geology to reporter Larry A. Witham: "'Studied all about it. Didn't worry me then. Doesn't worry me now'", insisting that the church only requires the belief that Adam was the first man of '"what we would call the human race."' In 2004, an official church magazine printed a quote from Hinckley from a 1983 speech where he expressed a similar sentiment.

== Statements from apostles ==
In the early 1900s, many general authorities, specifically those with science backgrounds, subscribed to the idea of an old earth, yet most of them rejected Darwinism. Joseph Fielding Smith and other general authorities were against the old earth theory as well as Darwin's theory of evolution. Individual leaders of the church have expressed a variety of personal opinions on biological evolution and as such these do not necessarily constitute official church doctrine.