Does evolution entail atheism?

The short answer

No. Evolution is consistent both with atheism and with its denial.

The longer response

Evolution is consistent with atheism, but consistent also with the existence of one or more gods.

Notably, since evolution cannot occur before the origin of life, the truth or falsity of evolution has no bearing on whether or not a god did anything earlier, including creating the universe and initiating life.

Nor is there anything in evolution to prevent a god from giving humans souls, inspiring prophets, parting seas, smiting people, telling people to smite other people, raising people from the dead, hearing prayers, forgiving sins, and so on.

Is evolution consistent with an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good god? One might think the process is too cruel to have been put in place by such a god, and indeed it might be. But there is no problem here that is not already far more forcefully presented by the existence of children’s cancer wards.

Evolution does directly contradict a literal interpretation of religious creation myths, but that rules out only certain human ideas about what a god has done, said, or meant, not the bare existence of one or many gods.