Evolution & theology

Evolution & theology

Georgia Victory in Cobb County "[T]he Sticker adopted by the Cobb County Board of Education violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," declared U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper, in a forty-four-page ruling issued on January 13, 2005.

Mississippi Equal time for creationism bill introduced A bill calling for "balanced treatment to the theory of scientific creationism and the theory of evolution" was introduced in the Mississippi Senate and referred to the Committee on Education on January 10, 2005. Pennsylvania Dover teachers refuse to read antievolution disclaimer According to the York Daily Record (Joseph Maldonado, "Dover teachers want out," January 7, 2005), eight science teachers at Dover Senior High School have refused to implement the "intelligent design" and "gaps/problems" policy mandated by the Dover Area School Board.

Believe It, or Not Americans are three times as likely to believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus (83 percent) as in evolution (28 percent) By Nicholas D. Kristof Op-Ed Columnist, New York Times Friday, August 15, 2003

Copernicus (1473-1543) Galileo (1564-1642) Kepler (1571-1630) Newton (1643-1727) It [the sun] rises at one end of the heavens and makes it circuit to the other; Psalms 19:6 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. Eccl 1:5

People feared Darwin had done away with God Humans no longer divine, related to all other animals Better a fallen angel than a risen ape

Oxford debate, 1860 Samuel Wilberforce Thomas Huxley If, then, said I, the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather, or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means and influence, and yet who employs these faculties and that influence for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion, I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape. Thomas Huxley

fundamentalist beliefs imposed on public education since early 1900s

Trial of the century

Trial of the century John T. Scopes Clarence Darrow Wm Jennings Bryan Scopes Monkey Trial

by 1942 over half of biology teachers in the US excluded teaching of evolution

Sputnik

by end of the 1960s anti-evolution laws repealed or declared unconstitutional

fundamentalists changed attack, now said creation was science and should be given equal time 1981 Louisiana & Arkansas enacted equal time laws Catholic bishops filed suited, separation of church & state Verdict: law was unconstitutional Louisiana law 1982, modified, struck down again 1984

While anybody is free to approach a scientific inquiry in any fashion they choose, they cannot properly describe the methodology used as scientific if they start with a conclusion and refuse to change it regardless of the evidence developed during the course of the investigation US District Court Judge William Overton

The theory of evolution by natural selection is testable

We do not know how the Creator created, what processes He used, for He used processes which are not now operating anywhere in the natural universe…We cannot discover by scientific investigations anything about the creative processes used by the Creator Evolution: the fossils say no!, pg 40 Duane T Gish, Institute for Creation Research

Fairness of alternatives biological evolution special creation astronomy astrology chemistry alchemy spherical earth flat earth heliocentric geocentric solar system psychology phrenology

1. God arose from the depths of the ocean, created dry land, and then created all creatures on the hill at Heliopolis at the center of the universe (Egypt) 2. God made sky and earth by splitting the powers of evil in half, and then produced humans for purposes of worship (Mesopotamia) 3. God creates all that is good and struggles with an evil being that creates all that is bad. Each struggle lasts about 3000 years and will continue until evil is vanquished, at which time creation will be complete and perfect (Iran) 4. God, a female, divided the sky from the sea, and produced a serpent with whom she copulated. She then laid a giant egg out of which came the earth, its creatures, and all the heavenly bodies, as well as the subsidiary powers to rule these various entities (Greece) 5. God created himself from a golden egg, and from the various parts of his body everything was born. After a time, life is destroyed and the cycle begins again (India) 6. God created the universe in 6 days ending with the creation of humans, according to Genesis 1; or, God first created Adam in the Garden of Eden and then created animals and birds and eventually Eve, according to Genesis 2 (Israel) 7. God was a woman who produced twins - the sun and the moon. During various eclipses, the twins came together to created the various gods and spirits of earth and sky the rule over humans (Benin, Africa) 8. God created the world in four distinct periods, each separated by a flood (Yucatan) 9. God created the earth and its creatures from mud gathered in the webbed feet of ducks who swam on a primeval ocean (American Crow Indian) 10. The universe was originally in the shape of a hen’s egg, out of which God emerged and chiseled its main physical features. After 18000 years God died and the remainder of the world was derived from his body: the dome of the sky from his skull, rocks from his bones, soil from his flesh, rain from his sweat, plant life from his hair, and humans from his fleas (China)

Scientific Life arose & diversified by natural mechanisms Religious Supernatural entity created life de novo Is there a conflict between these two views?

in our Jewish religious traditions today, we find in that account (Genesis) great moral power, eloquence and beauty…But as for the teaching of science, we would never purport to place the Creation Epic as a scientific theory of creation. We understand it as a theological statement…The truth of Adam and Eve stories, or of any other Biblical tales, does not rise of fall on their scientific demonstrability, but rather on their moral and symbolic teaching Rabbi Amiel Wohl

1982 General assembly of the United Presbyterian Church US “… the imposition of a fundamentalist viewpoint about the interpretation of Biblical literature – where every word is taken with uniform literalness and becomes an absolute authority on all matters, whether moral, religions, political, historical or scientific – is in conflict with the perspective of Biblical interpretation characteristically maintained by Biblical scholars and theological schools in the mainstream of Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Judaism. Such scholars find that the scientific theory of evolution does not conflict with their interpretation of the origins of life found in Biblical literature.”

1996 Pope John Paul II address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences “Aujourd’hui, près d’un demi-siècle après la parution de l’encyclique, de nouvelles connaissances conduisent à reconnaître dans la théorie de l’évolution plus qu’une hypothèse.” “Today, almost half a century after the publication of the encyclical, new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis.”

Scientists reject supernatural explanations for natural phenomena. This does not mean that all scientists reject the existence of the supernatural For many scientists and theologians there is no conflict between science and religion

Occam's razor "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate " "plurality should not be posited without necessity" Medieval English philosopher and Franciscan monk William of Ockham (ca. 1285-1349)

Of two competing theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred

science religion no overlap parial overlap complete overlap

Origin of species - Charles Darwin There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. 1st edition There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved. 11th edition

God has given us evidence sufficiently clear to convince those with an open heart and mind, Yet evidence sufficiently vague so as not to compel those whose hearts and minds are closed. Blaise Pascal

Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind. Romans 14:5

Evolution & theology