Can atheists afford to doubt evolution?

Can believers believe in Evolution? I doubt it...just as Atheists cannot believe in Creation...they are both fundamentally in opposition to each other so believers could not believe both in full. Taking parts of the whole to have something to hold onto would not be the same thing as believing in both...

Can an Atheist doubt Evolution...sure...many do all the time. Just because an Atheist doesn't believe in God, doesn't mean they have to replace that with another belief...

I think you're saying that evolution is the only option atheists have for explaining our existence. However, evolution is the only option ANYONE has for a scientifically credible explanation. Some atheists (I haven't met any) believe we were created by aliens.

Born Again Atheist has a good point. Can you afford not to believe in thermodynamics? Of course you can (if you're not an engineer), but that won't change the laws of nature.

What exactly do you mean by atheists can't afford to doubt evolution. I don't believe in evolution just as I don't believe the sky is blue and the grass is green. Some things just "are". Whether people believe that they are true or not doesn't make a difference. The sun is going to come up tomorrow whether or not you believe it will.

The only reason to argue against the validity of the process of evolution would be to defend your literal belief in the bible.

Evolution is old news. As a process it is accepted as factual by 100% of the credible scientific community. If there were accredited doubters than you would have some that are atheists, but there are none. The people that argue that Evolution is false do so not because they are seeking truthful answers, but are only trying to defend a belief structure that they feel is being threatened.

Christian cultists can delude themselves into believing anything they want. Atheists don't have to believe evolution because we can find the facts and evidence easily in many scientific texts. Evolution is a scientific theory, creationism is a fairy tale myth...they are not compatible in an intelligent mind.

We can afford to doubt evolution all we want. We could just as say "there is no adequate explanation for the existence of life."

You're assuming that atheists somehow have a commitment to having an explanation for the existence of life, and they don't.

The real question is can atheists afford to doubt gravity. If I were to doubt evolution not too much bad would happen, but if I were to doubt gravity I might end up killing myself in a bad fall.

Affording or not affording it are not reasons for an atheist. The reason for doubting Evolution would be lack of evidence and there is plenty of it.

With the abundance of common sense that is no doubt present in the minds of all doubters of invisible sky deities, I'd say atheists can "afford" much more than theists.

Your question assumes that if evolution were disproved, then the only other possible explanation for life is supernatural creation. It doesn't work like that. You cannot prove a theory simply by disproving an opposing theory.