Written by Julia Rodriquez, Staff Writers

The presidential debates are evolving, but the candidates are not.

The motivation behind the questions asked at presidential debates is to find out more about the candidates and their views. Voters want to be confident that they know whom they are making their President. The trending questions in the last few debates have been about evolution.

The theory of evolution has been long examined and is for the most part, widely accepted as the explanation for modern humans in the world of science. In fact, many schools teach evolution, though they are not allowed to say it is the correct theory as it would be a conflict of religion.

This conflict between science, religion and what is right may never be settled, as there is an entire culture and way of life behind each view. This may be why the question in brought up in debates. Depending on a candidates answer as to whether or not they believe in evolution tends to indicate how religious they are. Many individuals have a clear idea of what they believe and also tend to have certain ideas about the people with the opposing view.

Unfortunately people with opposing views on the same topic do not tend to get along. This would be why a voter would want to know if a candidate agrees with evolution or religion. Someone who believes in evolution likely believes in other scientific theories and ways of life while someone who believes in creationism, or other explanation for life, is likely to be religious.

It is unfortunate that people assume so much of one another based off of one aspect of their life, however we cannot all get to know the presidential candidates on a personal level. This is why gateway questions are used to help give an indication of who they are. However, many candidates are aware of how they will be viewed based on their answer and so to avoid losing voters they try to avoid the question.

I do not think that it should matter what a candidate believes, religiously or non-religiously, because religion and politics should not be mixed. I find a candidate’s political views and ideas to be more important than how they live their personal lives.