Posted on 01/25/2005 6:15:41 PM PST by gobucks
Ken Miller is an interesting guy. He is co-author of the nation's best-selling biology textbook. It was on his book, "Biology," that schools in Cobb County, Ga., slapped a sticker casting doubt on its discussion of evolution theory. And it was this sticker that a federal judge recently ordered removed because it endorsed religion. Miller, who testified against the label, gets a lot of hate mail these days.
But Miller is also a practicing Roman Catholic. "I attend Mass every Sunday morning," he said, "and I'm tired of being called an atheist."
A professor of biology at Brown University, Miller does not believe that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution contradicts the creation passages in the Bible. And he will argue the point till dawn.
"None of the six creative verses (in Genesis) describe an out-of-nothing, puff-of-smoke creation," he says. "All of them amount to a command by the creator for the earth, the soil and the water of this planet to bring forth life. And that's exactly what natural history tells us happened." (Miller has written a book on the subject: "Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution.")
Still, today's emotional conflicts over teaching this science in public schools leave the impression that Christianity and evolution cannot be reconciled. This is not so.
In 1996, Pope John II wrote a strong letter to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences supporting the scientific understanding of evolution. That's one reason why students in Catholic parochial schools get a more clearheaded education in evolution science than do children at many public schools racked by the evolution debate.
American parents who want Darwin's name erased from the textbooks might be surprised at the father of evolution's burial spot. Darwin was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, an Anglican church and England's national shrine.
Not every illustrious Englishman gains admission to an abbey burial site. Darwin died in 1882. Two years before, friends of George Eliot wanted the famous (female) writer laid to rest at the abbey. Eliot had lived immorally, according to the church fathers, and was denied a place. (She is buried at London's Highgate Cemetery, not far from Karl Marx.)
But Darwin had been an upright man. The clergy were proud both of Darwin's accomplishments and of their own comfort with modern science.
In 1882, during the memorial service for the great evolutionist, one church leader after the other rose to praise Charles Darwin. Canon Alfred Barry, for one, had recently delivered a sermon declaring that Darwin's theory was "by no means alien to the Christian religion."
Nowadays, Catholics and old-line Protestants have largely made peace with evolution theory. Most objections come from evangelicals — and not all of them.
Francis S. Collins is head of the National Genome Project and a born-again Christian. He belongs to the American Scientific Affiliation — a self-described fellowship of scientists "who share a common fidelity to the word of God and a commitment to integrity in the practice of science." Its Web address is www.asa3.org.
But back in Cobb County, the debate rages. The sticker taken off Miller's textbook read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
Why should Miller care that the Cobb County School Board — having bought his book in great quantity — pastes those words on the cover?
First off, he says, "It implies that facts are things we are certain of and theories are things that are shaky." In science, theory is a higher level of understanding than facts, he notes. "Theories don't grow up to become facts. Rather, theories explain facts."
Then, he questions why, of all the material in his book, only evolution is singled out for special consideration. Miller says that if he could write the sticker, it would say, "Everything in this book should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."
Clearly, many religious people regard evolution theory with sincere and heartfelt concern. But theirs is not a mainstream view — even among practicing Christians. Most theologians these days will argue that the biology book and the Good Book are reading from the same page.
Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is fharrop@projo.com
Not sure I understand. I believe the Bible is infallible in the original languages. That I know of, there's nothing in Scripture that contradicts what I wrote. In fact, what I wrote is logically inferred in Scripture.
It is good to approach Scripture in a thoughtful way.
"Literal" is an awkward word to use, though, because some of Scripture is *meant* to be taken figuratively (poems, parables). If the context indicates that a Scripture passage is to be taken literally, then it should be take literally. When Scripture says that Adam had a son, for example, then he literally had a son.
Surely you're not suggesting that Adam and Eve had only 3 children -- all boys -- in their 900+ years on earth?
The abolitionist movement was made up primarily of Christians, who were also Creationists. They knew that ALL human beings were created in God's divine image, and therefore should be treated equally. This was prior to Darwin's writings which smack of racism.
You can badmouth the people on this thread to your little hearts' delight, but don't start with the revisionist history garbage.
Slavery ended sooner because of Christians, and their understanding of God's love for all humanity.
I did not say that Adam was 'allegorical.' I was discussing that with someone else who did.
I believe that Adam was as real a man as you are, WT. But methinks you were deliberately baiting in that post.
Too bad. I liked the "allegorical" Adam.
Your defensiveness about what I've said seems to reflect an insecurity on your part that you were unable to answer them with any actual data.
But to say that anything I've said is remotely similar to the attack on all Christians who trust God's word, the evidence all around them, and their own logic, more than their atheistic science teachers as being cousins of bin Laden, is beyond ridiculous.
Think that through again, after you've read the words I've actually written.
I believe Adam and Eve were very real human beings, created uniquely and separately in God's image in a perfect world, and that Adam's sin........his fall........is the cause of the physical problems in the world, and our own death and disease.
That's why Jesus came.......and HE wasn't an allegory.
I believe you have to twist a whole lot of Scripture to believe that God just used evolution to create man, and defy your own sense of logic as well.
Put simply, theistic evolution doesn't make much sense, when it comes to man's unique creation.
It is mighty arrogant and very un-Christian for you to judge me when you have no possible means for doing so. It is a sign form God that you are on the wrong track when you can't stick with the facts and must go on personal attacks.
It doesn't make since that Jonah spend 3 days in the belly of the world but go on with your beliefs.
It's a legitimate question for me to ask when you have judged me as being on a par with MM, who has made the preposterous personal attack in calling me a cousin of bin Laden.
I have asked many, many questions, all of which you have evaded answering......thus my observation that you might be insecure because you haven't been able to answer them.
It is not an 'attack' in the least. If you are not as you seem, then prove it by concretely answering any of the many questions which I have posed on this thread.
Jonah is a prototype of Christ, who spent three days in the 'belly' of the earth before he arose.
Which questions have not been answered. And which of my questions have you NOT answered. It cuts both ways.
Oh........btw, I also believe in a literal universal flood, a complete upheaval of the world as it was (think tsunami times a thousand), and that much of the physical evidence explained by naturalists as being caused by evolution, can actually be explained by the Flood.
He didn't call you a cousin of OBL and you know that. At your request I had gone back and looked at the post. He said that fanatics that pushed ancient teachings based on an old document with disregard for science were all cousins to OBL in THAT regard.
And ask any question you'd like of me.........I will be glad to answer any serious question you have.
Not by the flood but you have to be an idiot or a religious fanatic or both to believe all those false propaganda web-sites.
Do you think it is possible to be a scientist and a Christian to be ale to ratify both faith and scientific theory?
Anyone who believes in Creation as stated in Genesis is a fundamentalist nutcase to both the men who made the attack.
Anyone who rejects what 'scientists' claim to be true, regardless of the reason, is a non-thinking religious zealot who is one step away from doing anything for the sake of religion.
I believe in Creation. I don't believe that all the supposed 'scientific evidence' is real , because of the agenda of those pushing it (I laughed at the Grand Canyon when I read that the Colorado River carved it out......it's utter nonsense!). I believe that atheistic scientists threw out the answer before they asked the question, so that their data is skewed by their pre-suppositions and their agenda, and I believe the Bible to be God's inerrant word.
That makes ME a cousin of bin Laden.
I've never been on a Creation website.........EVER.
That's in the Bible. Noah was real. The flood was real.
That is why we want to keep religion out of the classroom. It is beyond fathomable that someone would reject good science and believe what some kook puts up on a web-site that contradicts the established findings of many reputable people. That doesn't make you a cousin of OBL. OBL is a leader, you are a follower. Does that make you a cousin of his followers? I don't know but similarities exist.
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