Posted on 02/16/2007 4:30:59 PM PST by xzins
10,000 Clergy Sign Letter Backing Evolution
Rebekah Sharpe
In preparation for the upcoming "Evolution Sunday" on February 11, 2007, the online Clergy Letter Project, led by Michael Zimmerman, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Butler University, has been gathering clergy signatures to support an open letter.
The core of the letter states: "We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject it as 'one theory among others' is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children."
The strongly-worded document characterizes fellow Christians who question evolution as anti-rational. Such people are "argu[ing] that God's loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason," according to the letter. They are accused of an "attempt to limit God, an act of hubris."
In an endeavor to achieve its goal, "to demonstrate that religion and science can be compatible and to elevate the quality of the debate on the issue," the letter warns against exposing students to alternative theories. It states, "We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge."
The clergy signers insist "that science remain science and that religion remain religion." They explain, "While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook."
As of February 8, 2007, the letter had gained 10,550 signatures from pastors, bishops, counselors, seminary professors, and other church leaders throughout the United States.
Although many signers came from major mainline denominations, such as the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and United Methodist Church, the list of signers represented a wide range of other denominational affiliations. In all, some 1,851 Episcopal, 1,586 Methodist, and 1,425 Presbyterian retired and active clergy members were included in the list.
The list included figures such as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori and the retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, John Shelby Spong. Bishops Kenneth Carder (in residence at Duke Divinity School) and Joseph Sprague (retired from Northern Illinois) were prominent among the United Methodists supporting the document. The many high-ranking Lutheran signers from various synods included previous Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Rev. Dr. Herbert Chilstrom, and the Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Mansholt, Bishop of the Central States Synod, ELCA.
Faculty members from various seminaries and theological schools—including Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Andover Newton Theological School, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Claremont Theology School, Candler Theological Seminary, Asbury Theological Seminary, Duke Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Fuller Theological Seminary—also endorsed the statement.
It anguishes me that any members of my seminary would agree to the above, but apparently they did.
If the Lord releases me, I will move on in the next few years.
Look on the page listing signers and click "Listing by States." http://www.butler.edu/clergyproject/rel_clergy_by_state.htm
It is interesting to note that there are more signers from states (prorated) with low church attendance than states with high attendance. I wonder if there is a connection?
There are so many from my state of Ohio and so many from my denomination. It's discouraging.
Now that we've symmetrically demonstrated that science and religion are not democratic processes can we let the science teachers get back to teaching science and the preachers get back to saving souls.
The only way to sign on to the 2d paragraph is to throw God overboard or to seriously misdefine Him.
Well there are no signers who are members of Calvary Chapel or Evangelical Free Churches.
Does CC take outcasts?
Amen, nor Southern Baptists.
www.KWVE.com is a great station for online truth.
Isn't this all a bit much?
I'd hate to be associated with any cause championed by Spong.
I cannot find the connection between paragraph 2 and Jesus.
For the life of me, it escapes me.
I think they only take outcasts.
Good. It's where I've set my sights.
I'm not familiar with any of the signers except Spong. Spong expressly rejects any notion that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. His concept of God is fuzzy and unitarian. He does not believe that God personally hears and answers prayers. Without a resurrected Christ at the center of it, I cannot begin to understand what God's "loving plan of salvation for humanity" could possibly entail--let alone how that relates to evolution.
Spong apparently believes that Darwin is a rigorous and true prophet and Jesus Christ was either deluded or a liar.
I know a number of names. One that absolutely floors me is a guy named Ken Carder.
Which seminary? I graduated from Talbot.
Documentation for this outrageous assertion?
Asbury...the less conservative than it used to be Methodist Seminary in central Kentucky.
No more than a handful is competent to evaluate the data. Some who may, like Schori, are unfortunately not competent in theology.
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