Why do people deny evolution?

Evolution is most likely denied because it does not offer humanity a paradise. It is the simple truth that we are born, we make it to adulthood to continue our species, we grow old, and we die. Religion offers a "solution" to the natural nature of things. It allows people to have peace during their lifetime. If religion wasn't around history couldn't have gone as far as it has being the fact that church's have a lot of influence in society, without it the world would be chaotic. People would be killing one another, the justice system would be unstable. Over all morals would be very few and far between.

How about the idea that just because its not in the bible, these people deem it untrue? Surely any intelligent human being would not consider the bible as a book on the scientific study of physics? Rather it is a metaphorical book of human spirituality and morality etc etc.

It's difficult to rationalize all the errors and contradictions.

Yes your right, because it is metaphorical and mythological literature, but I can find sense in the moral and godly parts. I love science and evolution, but I also love the morality of Lord Jesus. Yes I know, you 're thinking I'm sounding metaphoric again... it must have been the word "Lord" yeah I know. Hey Charlton Heston the monkey man, Planet Of the Apes, a classic.

Muslims in the early centuries accepted both science and God and were able to marry each other, unlike Christians of the time (dark ages) where anything that challenged God was heretical. In time, Muslims reintroduced Europe to the Greek philosophies and knowlege was expanded because, (and it took years), for man to stop fearing that God and science could be one.
That we have not expanded from the mistakes of that past, that led us into a dark age of ignorance, upsets me. Whether you believe in God or not, I do not believe he desires us to be ignorant.

Hear, hear!

My chief complaint with any form of deity worship, is the destruction of knowledge, and denial of truth that fanaticism brings with it.

Well, if the human brain was evolved enough to understand our place in the place we inhabit we would not need deity worship. Since we can't explain the complexities of our situation humans will always need this comfort.
For instance when I was a young boy one of my thrills was to go out side on cool winter nights, gaze up to the northeast, and stare at the Andromeda galaxy. It is a worthy adventure to try to understand just how far away this spiral shape was-in a reality sense. We can put a number on it-however this fails to do anything in envisioning something our mind can understand. A flashlight beam goes an amazing distance in one one hundredth of a second-now visualize the time it would go in 4 million years.
We are even more clueless about the largeness of the place we live. Someday our galaxy-the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide. However collide is a poor choice of term since anyone on a planet in either galaxy would not even know it-perhaps a few more lights in the sky is all they would notice-that is how big these galaxies are-a largeness our minds are clueless about.
The Greeks knew this as they were the first to show that deity worship is essential to human survival.
Evolution is simply a theory because we have almost nothing to go on. More so it is easy to get lost in imagination of those who explore this science. For instance, we must believe that a small chip of a fossilized tooth-smaller than a toenail-our science can tell us the age of the creature, the sex, when this person was born-when they died, where they lived, what they eat, how they died and so on. This is all speculation and not fact. When I saw the Taung child in person I could not believe how small it was and how it didn't look human at all-from 12 feet away it looked nothing like the pictures in evolution textbooks-this creature could not be in the same line as africanus-but this is never discussed because evolution is meant to be based on opinions-not facts.

A substantial percentage of the population claim to be perfectly happy without that 'comfort'. Are you saying that:

Atheists on their own would not survive.

OR

Atheists are more evolved than others.

Humans continue to learn more about our existence, and have already proven that this planet is older than what the bible claims. Religion is an accident of birth. Most follow the religion of their parents whether it be buddhism, christianity, islam, hinduism, and all the other religions of mankind. As an atheist, I don't believe in any man-made religion even though all my siblings are christians.

First of all in science a theory is something that has been well tested and for which there is a lot to go on.

Ignorance of science or scientific terms on your part doesn't mean that science doesn't know much.

Isn't it sad that so many of religion just turn off their brains when it comes to science. They are fearful that what they believed all their lives have been a lie.

So I can put you down as a vote for the second answer?

I guess That would explain your ability to overcome the accident of your birth.
I'm assuming your parents were religious since all your siblings were.

The 'accident of my birth' is that I'm third generation Japanese American born in Sacramento, California. There's nothing I can do to change those facts.

I can't tell if you just can't Follow a logical thread or you think it is normal for your 3rd gen Japanese American siblings to to be Christians but not you or what.

Didn't you just say your parents usually determine your religion? I was asking what made you the exception. But since Japanese are typically not Christian, maybe I should ask you about your siblings.

Our mother converted to christianity when we were in concentration camp during WWII. We used to be buddhist. My siblings remained christians, and married to christians. I married a buddhist. I'm what one may call the "yellow sheep of the family."
Here's an interesting trivia. Our mother was christian, but was in fear of cremation. I told my wife I want to be cremated after my death.

Interesting about your mother.
I sincerely hope that camp was not one of the ones we built here.

I've never cared much about what they do with my body. Cremation would be fine though. Something about spending a lot of hard earned money on a fancy box offends my sensibilities.

Not only the 'box,' but taking up unnecessary space on this planet. Three-four generations from now, nobody is going to remember me. I don't remember my genealogy that far back! My name on a family chart is enough.

Yes, it was a concentration camp in Northern California called Tule Lake. I believe there were 21 camps during WWII for Japanese Americans.
Have you ever heard of the 442 Infantry Battalion?

Had heard of the 422 but had to look up the details to refresh my memory. When you bounce their record against what was happening to their relatives at home, it's just a mental disconnect.

I regard those camps as one of the most shameful acts in American history. Boggles my mind to think that it actually happened.

It was the racism at that time, and the failure of leadership. What we're seeing today against Muslims is the same thing. The likes of Trump, a bigot, has no place in any government position. It's sad to see how popular he is. It proves that bigotry is alive and well in the United States of America.
Blacks still get the short end of the stick. This country has a long ways to go to become a 'GREAT' country.

I think George Takei spent some time there too. I wonder if your time overlapped. George wrote a Broadway musical, called Allegiance, about the Japanese-American internment camps
http://www.playbill.com/article/the-verdict-read-reviews-for-broadways-allegiance-starring-lea-salonga-george-takei-and-telly-leung-com-370729