Austin's View on Evolution

Many Latter-day Saints are hostile to some views of science, such as evolution. Having just finished my Foundations Science class at college, I have come to learn the answers to the following questions.

Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints hostile to real science?
Not at all. Sometimes we think that the prophets should be able to tell us anything we need to know. But this would eliminate our responsibility to "study it out in our minds" and to make our own educated choices. It would also make hard work and research obsolete, which is a sign of true dedication to the search of knowledge. The Church is not hostile towards science; in fact it promotes science and the search for truth by physical means. The Church's purpose, however, is not to divulge such knowledge, but to focus on spiritual matters that will save us in the end. Thus, leaving science to the scientists.

How can you distinguish between authentic science and "...vain philosophy, human theory, and mere speculations..."?
If some theory has no basis whatsoever, or if an idea has had no work put into it to try and prove its veracity, then there is no reason for us as God-fearing human beings to believe in it. However, if there is a study done with much debate, research, and evidence, we are invited to consider it for ourselves and to give it credit. We should approach all science with an open mind; just because the Bible says we were "created in the image of God," the theory of evolution, which was and is in fact very thoroughly researched, isn't automatically disproven. To be ignorant is to be as all atheists are, and also many Christians who discredit the hard work of intelligent scientists.

Do the scriptures tell how man was created? Explain.
The scriptures tell us many laws, including physical laws, and we know that God is a god of order and balance and covenants. They also tell us that God created the earth, the heavens, and all things that in them are. The scriptures do not, however, tell us exactly how God did these things. They were written millenia ago to peoples who did not understand science at all, and many who were illiterate. God knew we were curious about our origins, so He told us in simple words as words to children, which we are. Just because He said "Let there be light," and there "was light," does not signify that it was that simple. Creation was undoubtedly an intensely complicated process, and to explain it to the simple Hebrews of old would have had no effect. With the little that we comprehend today, they understood far less.

Summarize in your own words the position of the church on science.
The Church values science that is well thought out, debated, discussed, and evaluated; and overall, it values the search for knowledge. Therefore, the Church promotes science as long as it is not mere speculation or opinion. The theories that exist today can and do harmonize beautifully with Gospel doctrine, because God is not a god of deception. He did not create a world in one way and then lay a series of deceptive tricks and artificial evidences seeking to thwart his knowledge-seeking children. Moreover, a Creator so Supreme and intelligent did not create races of "mistakes" that died off as experiments and went extinct. We should always have an open mind. The Church values, above all else, progression. And we should progress towards the day when we will know all things.