Denis Alexander of the Faraday Institute has a letter in the New Scientist praising the Clergy Letter Project and calling for Christians to be better educated with knowledge of evolution. Darwinists seem under the illusion that more education can make up for the failure of Darwinism to be accepted in the minds of the majority of Christians. By way of review here is the letter published 23rd February 2008.
"Celebrating Darwin There seems little doubt that religious communities are more likely to listen when people from within their own communities have something important to say, as with the Clergy Letter project (2 February, p 16). Though creationism is thankfully less of a problem in Europe, Michael Zimmerman may be interested to know that there have long been vigorous efforts within UK churches to educate Christians about science in general, and evolution in particular. For example, later this year Christians in Science http://www.cis.org.uk/ are holding a conference entitled Celebrating Darwin. Biologists who have a faith need to be active in explaining their science within their religious communities."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726440.400-celebrating-darwin.html
Interestingly according to the CiS Newsletter PreCiS No. 42 Autumn 2007 Precis42.pdf the conference in question is "Celebrating Darwin ? Creation, Evolution and Theological Challenges." That is with a question mark. As a student member of CiS I wonder why Denis would chose to turn a question into a statement in this way? Perhaps the conference has indeed changed its name, or perhaps the statement expresses the real purpose of the conference, but Denis seems to be engaging in a form of hagiography that is not shared by at least some members of CiS. The CiS apparently does not take an official line on Darwinism in its Statement of Faith and members hold different views on macro-evolution. But his letter suggests that CiS is seeking to educate the church in the ways of Darwin.
Undoubtedly Darwin raised an important theological question in terms of suffering in light of a widely held belief in design, but his own wider claims for macro-evolution have not been substantiated, and nor can they be. The solution to the problem of theodicy will not be answered by merely caving into Darwin's negative conclusions. And Christians should indeed engage in the education of Christians (and non-Christians) to warn of the fallacy known as scientism. That is; the 'belief' that 'science' can explain all reality. It is a self refuting claim.
"Celebrating Darwin There seems little doubt that religious communities are more likely to listen when people from within their own communities have something important to say, as with the Clergy Letter project (2 February, p 16). Though creationism is thankfully less of a problem in Europe, Michael Zimmerman may be interested to know that there have long been vigorous efforts within UK churches to educate Christians about science in general, and evolution in particular. For example, later this year Christians in Science http://www.cis.org.uk/ are holding a conference entitled Celebrating Darwin. Biologists who have a faith need to be active in explaining their science within their religious communities."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726440.400-celebrating-darwin.html
Interestingly according to the CiS Newsletter PreCiS No. 42 Autumn 2007 Precis42.pdf the conference in question is "Celebrating Darwin ? Creation, Evolution and Theological Challenges." That is with a question mark. As a student member of CiS I wonder why Denis would chose to turn a question into a statement in this way? Perhaps the conference has indeed changed its name, or perhaps the statement expresses the real purpose of the conference, but Denis seems to be engaging in a form of hagiography that is not shared by at least some members of CiS. The CiS apparently does not take an official line on Darwinism in its Statement of Faith and members hold different views on macro-evolution. But his letter suggests that CiS is seeking to educate the church in the ways of Darwin.
Undoubtedly Darwin raised an important theological question in terms of suffering in light of a widely held belief in design, but his own wider claims for macro-evolution have not been substantiated, and nor can they be. The solution to the problem of theodicy will not be answered by merely caving into Darwin's negative conclusions. And Christians should indeed engage in the education of Christians (and non-Christians) to warn of the fallacy known as scientism. That is; the 'belief' that 'science' can explain all reality. It is a self refuting claim.
Darwinism has failed to capure the minds of a majority of the population because of very obvious causal gaps in the theory. But in response people are asked to 'believe' in much the same way as they accept religious belief. Evolution is doubted because it is not established as science, but is really seen as a belief system where nature is said to supply the 'power of generation.'
Instead of dividing Christians along Darwinian lines it would be good to see Denis call for respectful dialogue between Christians who hold differing views, and organise a conference along such lines. But praising Darwin in church seems more important to some Christian naturalists than Christian unity.
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