Posted on 09/09/2006 8:39:07 PM PDT by curiosity
“In the final analysis (God) used evolution to set us free.”
Brown University biologist Kenneth Miller used this quote from his book “Finding Darwin’s God” as a central point in his speech about simultaneously believing in evolution and religion.
Miller spoke to more than 500 people Thursday evening in the Kansas Union Ballroom.
He testified for the pro-evolution side in the recent lawsuit against the Dover, Pa., school district, where a federal judge ruled against the district’s teaching of intelligent design in biology classrooms. He said it was creationism in disguise.
Conservatives on the Kansas State Board of Education approved science standards last year that criticized evolution, but after the August primary election, it appears moderates will regain control of the board and eventually reinstate the former standards.
Miller gained several laughs from the audience during his speech as he described the Dover trial, including a scene when intelligent design proponent Michael Behe asked the judge if he could “move the evidence to the side.”
Plaintiffs’ attorney Eric Rothschild had stacked 58 scientific papers, nine books and other textbook chapters on evolutionary evidence supporting development of the human immune system in front of Behe on the witness stand.
Miller said religion and evolution are too often played as opposing forces and incorrectly identified as mutually exclusive. At Brown, a student once told him he could not worship at the university chapel and cited a book that places evolution as the fruit in the serpent’s mouth or a “tool of Satan.”
But Miller said the root of the portrayal of religion and evolution as opposites may come from scientists who have an “anti-theistic interpretation of evolution,” a stance he disagrees with.
“People of faith are shooting at the wrong target. They should not be shooting at evolution itself,” he said.
Miller, a Catholic, said evolution has been remarkably robust in answering criticism through fossil records, the fusing of human chromosomes and other examples.
Instead of attacking evolutionary theory, the argument should be against the anti-theistic interpretation of evolution, he said.
He quoted several scientists, philosophers and religious leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, who has written: “Even the outcome of a truly contingent natural process can nonetheless fall within God’s providential plan for creation.”
“By understanding the mechanics of this world, what one is really doing is praising and glorifying God,” Miller said.
Miller will answer questions from the public at 10 a.m. today at the Hall Center for the Humanities.
The lecture was the first in the “Difficult Dialogues” series on “Knowledge: Faith & Reason,” presented by the Hall Center and the Biodiversity Institute.
Federal Judge John E. Jones III, who ruled in favor of the Dover plaintiffs, will speak Sept. 26.
“People of faith are shooting at the wrong target. They should not be shooting at evolution itself,” he said...Instead of attacking evolutionary theory, the argument should be against the anti-theistic interpretation of evolution, he said.
I'll check back later for the fireworks. :-)
My personal belief is that God established the framework for evolution to flourish and prosper. How else were all things supposed to move forward?
I firmly believe in God and that God created the methods for science to explain the way things happen so our puny little minds could comprehend some of it. If He hadn't done that, He wouldn't have been a very smart God.
You are incorrect.
I agree.
Can't we just all agree on Intelligent Design and stop picking the fly poop from the pepper shaker of life? At least it would allow more of us to think about things that actually matter, such as how to explain the concept of "inspiration" to a muslim.
No, evolution and faith coexist nicely.
No I am NOT incorrect, the Creator, that created our very souls designed these flesh bodies as temporal houses for a specific age. He by designed gave each individual the freedom to pass through this flesh age making the choice to follow Him or not.
Certainly doesn't represent a Christian outlook on the subject. Maybe you should do a study of the Bible. "God created man in his image; In the image of God he created him; Male and female he created them." Gen. 1:27.
Evolution is a theory that by its very nature devalues the Heavenly Father and His creation.
"No, evolution and faith coexist nicely."
Ah yes there is much faith "belief in things not seen" in evolution. So much faith there is not room for the Creator.
You are correct, sir.
However, I think that the best things to impart to mudslimes (be it at the end of a gun barrel if necessary) are these:
1.) The pursuit of happiness (they seem to know nothing of this concept).
2.) Live and let live (ditto).
Should they not agree to these simple concepts it is our duty to continue killing lots of them until the remainder "get it".
Where are Black Jack Pershing and George Patton when we need them?
Some smart Catholics on this very forum, have explained to me, that science can never capture the essence of God, and his plan, and his doings, no matter what science might find. The mystery is eternal, as is the mystery of what lifts the spirit. (I might have that wrong; that is this pagan's take on it.) Food for thought for this near atheist. What resonates for me in particular, is that one should be more aware of what one does not know, as opposed to making erroneous tacit assumptions about what one knows. Most of us think we know more than we really do. That is in our genes. It may be a good survival mechanism, but it may not be the road to truth.
As such, it is a belief system, even a religion. Natural selection is one thing. A Closed Nature is a leap of faith.
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