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To: Exnihilo
The real question is whether man is more than a mere arrangement of atoms. If he is, then it would seem to matter little how those atoms came to be arranged as they are, whether by natural processes of evolution or reproduction, or by supernatural intervention. Pope John Paul II and Pope Pius XII have indicated the essential point: As long as we maintain the scriptural and philosophical truth that man has a spiritual nature, there can be nothing to fear in merely biological facts.

This is a remarkable concession! Oh, but if only he had stopped at this paragraph. If you take it seriously, then you should be the one on the defensive. Why spend your time trying to fight the consensus view of modern biological science? Why fear that accepting the truth of evolution will throw society into a nihilistic abyss, as, say, Phillip Johnson does?

Once you accept this paragraph's argument (as I, an Objectivist, have argued here for some time now), then the real debate is: Can what you call "spirituality" be created by a natural process, or is some kind of "supernatural" designer required? I think there's no reason to believe a supernatural person is required, and apparently you do. But we both agree that humans have a "spiritual" capacity! (I'd say humans have rational minds with the ability for abstract thought. Same thing, IMO.)

Vast areas of practical agreement flow from our shared starting point: The necessity for a morality based on individualism instead of collectivism, the necessity for the non-initiation of force or fraud, yet the acceptibility (or even necessity) for retaliatory force & fraud against violators. So again: Why fear evolution?

16 posted on 12/30/2001 3:16:30 PM PST by jennyp
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To: jennyp
I don't fear evolution. I think materialism is a dinosaur. Phil Johnson has his views, and I have mine. In time, everyone will come to recognize how absurd it is to have faith in the idea that natural forces can create specified complexity from chaos. In fact, this is all but a done deal. It's really only a matter of time before Dembski perfects his ideas, and proves once and for all that specified complexity can only come from intelligence. However, even if he doesn't, the materialists still must prove that natural processes are capable of information creation, which they have not even attempted to do.
23 posted on 12/30/2001 3:43:29 PM PST by Exnihilo
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To: jennyp
Why spend your time trying to fight the consensus view of modern biological science?

Why spend your time trying to fight the consensus view of modern astronomical science prior to say 1400?
45 posted on 12/31/2001 5:28:40 AM PST by Frumious Bandersnatch
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