Posted on 12/18/2004 5:56:30 PM PST by PatrickHenry
Professional danger comes in many flavors, and while Richard Colling doesn't jump into forest fires or test experimental jets for a living, he does do the academic's equivalent: He teaches biology and evolution at a fundamentalist Christian college.
At Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., he says, "as soon as you mention evolution in anything louder than a whisper, you have people who aren't very happy." And within the larger conservative-Christian community, he adds, "I've been called some interesting names."
But those experiences haven't stopped Prof. Colling -- who received a Ph.D. in microbiology, chairs the biology department at Olivet Nazarene and is himself a devout conservative Christian -- from coming out swinging. In his new book, "Random Designer," he writes: "It pains me to suggest that my religious brothers are telling falsehoods" when they say evolutionary theory is "in crisis" and claim that there is widespread skepticism about it among scientists. "Such statements are blatantly untrue," he argues; "evolution has stood the test of time and considerable scrutiny."
His is hardly the standard scientific defense of Darwin, however. His central claim is that both the origin of life from a primordial goo of nonliving chemicals, and the evolution of species according to the processes of random mutation and natural selection, are "fully compatible with the available scientific evidence and also contemporary religious beliefs." In addition, as he bluntly told me, "denying science makes us [Conservative Christians] look stupid."
Prof. Colling is one of a small number of conservative Christian scholars who are trying to convince biblical literalists that Darwin's theory of evolution is no more the work of the devil than is Newton's theory of gravity. They haven't picked an easy time to enter the fray. Evolution is under assault from Georgia to Pennsylvania and from Kansas to Wisconsin, with schools ordering science teachers to raise questions about its validity and, in some cases, teach "intelligent design," which asserts that only a supernatural tinkerer could have produced such coups as the human eye. According to a Gallup poll released last month, only one-third of Americans regard Darwin's theory of evolution as well supported by empirical evidence; 45% believe God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago.
Usually, the defense of evolution comes from scientists and those trying to maintain the separation of church and state. But Prof. Colling has another motivation. "People should not feel they have to deny reality in order to experience their faith," he says. He therefore offers a rendering of evolution fully compatible with faith, including his own. The Church of the Nazarene, which runs his university, "believes in the biblical account of creation," explains its manual. "We oppose a godless interpretation of the evolutionary hypothesis."
It's a small opening, but Prof. Colling took it. He finds a place for God in evolution by positing a "random designer" who harnesses the laws of nature he created. "What the designer designed is the random-design process," or Darwinian evolution, Prof. Colling says. "God devised these natural laws, and uses evolution to accomplish his goals." God is not in there with a divine screwdriver and spare parts every time a new species or a wondrous biological structure appears.
Unlike those who see evolution as an assault on faith, Prof. Colling finds it strengthens his own. "A God who can harness the laws of randomness and chaos, and create beauty and wonder and all of these marvelous structures, is a lot more creative than fundamentalists give him credit for," he told me. Creating the laws of physics and chemistry that, over the eons, coaxed life from nonliving molecules is something he finds just as awe inspiring as the idea that God instantly and supernaturally created life from nonlife.
Prof. Colling reserves some of his sharpest barbs for intelligent design, the idea that the intricate structures and processes in the living world -- from exquisitely engineered flagella that propel bacteria to the marvels of the human immune system -- can't be the work of random chance and natural selection. Intelligent-design advocates look at these sophisticated components of living things, can't imagine how evolution could have produced them, and conclude that only God could have.
That makes Prof. Colling see red. "When Christians insert God into the gaps that science cannot explain -- in this case how wondrous structures and forms of life came to be -- they set themselves up for failure and even ridicule," he told me. "Soon -- and it's already happening with the flagellum -- science is going to come along and explain" how a seemingly miraculous bit of biological engineering in fact could have evolved by Darwinian mechanisms. And that will leave intelligent design backed into an ever-shrinking corner.
It won't be easy to persuade conservative Christians of this; at least half of them believe that the six-day creation story of Genesis is the literal truth. But Prof. Colling intends to try.
Hey we're ahead! Spooky!
Being a YEC requires disbelief in the entire base of scientific knowledge.
I think that proportion that believe in YEC is the same proportion that is functionally illiterate. That was my point.
Usually, though, it isn't the principal catching them, it is the principal catching hell for them that gets feet moving and retractions made. That and laws on the books in a number of states that require accuracy and integrity in textbooks - causing said lies to disappear lest the community be marred by a public defrocking.. lol
Ah, I thought you meant which religion. The first for me, the fourth for you.
When was evolution first required in public schools?
So all Creationists to you, are functionally illiterate? Seems rather, shall we dare say it? Small minded and bigoted
An utter nonsensical lie. Do you ever open your mouth to utter other than this kind of garbage?
Are you implying that being an evolutionist, then, requires a significant arrogance, bigotry and willful ignorance of creationism?
Kwanza is bringing out his true nature
Still that ignorant huh. Can you add? Subtract? I thought it was Creationists you guys said couldn't do simple math or sum such.
You are going staight from point A to point B! No creationist, ever, especially on this board, has ever achieved such intellectual heights! You are to be commended
I have no interest in Havoc. No one who posts on these threads is ever convinced by the opposition. I post for lurkers. I think Havoc's post is a classic. It doesn't need a response or commentary. I don't even want to characterize it. Those who read it will know what to think.
Let me excerpt it slightly. I originally argued that in order for Havoc to be correct, all of physics, chemistry, biology and geology would have to be wrong, and havoc would have to be smarter than all the scientists who have lived in the past 200 years.
Havoc's response was basically, no problem. He meets that standard. I don't think lurkers will have any trouble understanding that.
That should be an incredible shame to the feigned scientific set. Their theory is so full of lies and they are so set against correcting the lies that laws have to be passed to force them to do so! Incredible, but somewhat satisfying, since it exposes the fraud to the general public and has damaged the efforts of the secularists to move evolution from the realm of values to the realm of fact.
It is semantics. Case in point. I do not believe in evolution. That would make it faith based. However, I do accept the evidence that supports the theory of evolution. Such is science.
How does that make the point I raised meaningless?
Your point is not meaningless, however, a faith-based debate is. Evolution is not faith based.
Being as dirt-dumb as the creationists supposedly are, they sure do confound the enlightened pseudo-scientific elite amateurs.
And what if it did? Would we require equal time in the schools for the Christian "unburning stove" theory?
The problem with macroevolution and even perhaps the old universe is that the hypotheses of mainstream science spill over into metaphysics.
Oh, well. You really only have two choices when your worldview conflicts with observable reality, not four - attempt to maintain your worldview in the face of the evidence by sticking your head in the sand, or revising your worldview to take the evidence into account. If you find physical reality incompatible with God, I submit that the problem is neither with God nor reality, but with your conception of one or both - God cannot be incompatible with reality, and so if there's a problem, it's your problem to solve as you will. Either you misunderstand God, or you misunderstand the universe, but in both cases, neither God nor the universe are affected in the slightest bit by your opinion or your politics or your metaphysics or your worldview. Next time try not to have a metaphysical worldview that is dependent on some aspect of the physical world that you don't fully understand, is my suggestion - then you never have to worry about conflicts between God and His creation.
(sigh) I wist I culd unnerstand them big wurds you use, but Im two dum, dum as a post
Excuse the cheap shot, but that does help explain why they remain unconvinced.
I originally argued that in order for Havoc to be correct, all of physics, chemistry, biology and geology would have to be wrong, and havoc would have to be smarter than all the scientists who have lived in the past 200 years.
That's an absurd assertion. ALL of physics? All of chemistry? You are certainly intimate with the straw man fallacy! There is but one conclusion to be drawn from your fantastic fabrication: Havoc is not refutable so you must manufacture his position in order to deal with it.
I hope the lurkers you think you are persuading can see that your challenge is to a windmill, not Havoc.
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