Three Mistakes (1 of 3)

1. It's only about the length of time

Trivializing the conflict between evolution and creation, many people (especially christians) confuse this as a matter of interpretation of the word 'day' in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. If "days" are to be treated in a poetic sense, then evolution might be the God's chosen mechanism of creation. This makes a person to be an evolutionist and at the same time creationist. No problem with that!

But not exactly! This line of thinking can be viewed as a misunderstanding of the word evolution. If it meant as a gradual God-chosen, God-guided process of creating, then there could be no problem. But evolution means otherwise in the context of modern science. It is insistent that evolution is mindless and unguided, positing that our existence is by mere chance and a stroke of luck contrary to an intelligently planned creation.

George Gaylord Simpson stated clearly that "[m]an is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind." A similar statement was made through a Position Statement of the American National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) as exactly follows: "The diversity of life on earth is the outcome of evolution: an unsupervised, impersonal, unpredictable and natural process of temporal descent with genetic modification that is affected by natural selection, chance, historical contingencies and changing environments." Here, NABT is positioning itself on a worldview that explicitly rules out the existence of God or His role in the creation far beyond the scope of the science itself.

At first, in their meeting in Minneapolis in October 1998, the body (NABT) voted against the revision of their statement. But three days later, a revision was made reversing their decision and agreed to remove the words "unsupervised" and "impersonal".

Certainly, evolution-creation is not only about the length of time.

Johnson, Phillip E. 1997. Defeating darwinism by opening minds. Illinois: InterVarsity Press.

"Nature is all there is".

An excerpt from Phillip E. Johnson's Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, page 15, tells that modern science is deeply-founded on naturalism, a doctrine which tells "nature is all there is". In Johson's purpose, naturalism can be used interchangeably with materialism--which means matter, that is to say, all the fundamental particles that make up both matter and energy, is all there is. Evolutionary naturalists insist that nature is made up of those fundamental particles. Hence, the Big Bang Theory is probably held plausible and vice versa. This doctrine further implicates that the evolutionary mechanism or evolution itself is working through a mechanism which is in random.

Modern science educators insist that "evolution" is a purposeless, unguided, mindless and random process. Evolution is mindless and godless. It appears to be true that evolutionary scientists pose no claims that God does not exist for in the first place they have no business to deal with such claim. They are naturalists! A creator is unnecessary. It seems to them that all the processes and mechanisms involved in the "creation" of the immense diversity of living organisms we now observe require no guide, no purpose, no previous intelligent design. All they require is just a random process through mutations and natural selection. If nature is all there is, then nature must have had the ability to do its own creating.

Defeating Darwinism

On my quest to unravel the mysteries, questions and controversies behind the evolution-creation battles, I have chosen to start my research and review by reading Phillip E. Johnson's easy to understand guide for DEFEATING DARWINISM by Opening Minds. It is through the help of a family friend, Lorenz Lasco, who has not a single clue of hesitation to lend me his pile of books concerning the defense from as well as the attacks against the seemingly philosophical side of Darwinism (in this case, I adopt the term Darwinism to indicate it being a philosophy or inclination to philosophy), that I was able to get hold of a copy of this very interesting book.



Basically, this book aims to advise parents, teachers and students alike how to debate against evolution. To continue with, here's an editorial review from Amazon.com by Ray Olson:

"Johnson feels his successful antievolution books, Darwin on Trial (1991) and Reason in the Balance (1995), are more complicated than parents and teachers need to prepare students to take on the evolutionists. Hence, this shorter version of his overall thesis that also advises how to debate evolution. Johnson first makes clear what he perceives the real adversary to be: a dogma that insists life arose solely by chance and that denies contrary evidence a hearing. He then counsels believers to avoid such common mistakes as retreating from theism to deism (and so transforming a continuously creative God into an uninvolved First Cause), to learn to spot faulty analogies and other forms of poor logic, to know the soundest scientific data casting doubt on classical evolution, and to persist--for, he says, the days of Darwinian hegemony are numbered. He firmly believes and seeks to persuade readers that his ultimate causes, aside from religious faith, are freedom of inquiry and the opening of now closed minds."

In my next entries, I will be posting my own review of this book by citing examples, arguments and strategies exposed and proposed by the author in which I agree. In the meantime, let me just lead you to a link in Amazon.com for a quick tour/browse of the book itself. So if you want, you can simply click here.

Reconciling science and faith

I was browsing through the National Academies website which contains various articles, reviews and reports discussing views, points, facts and opinions about the Theory of Evolution. I have found this roundtable discussion about Science and Faith, the panelists are Francisco Ayala, a professor of biological sciences and of philosophy at the University of California, Irvine;Mark Noll, a professor of Christian thought in the History Department at Wheaton College, Illinois and the author of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (1995) and of A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (1994); Arthur Peacocke, a physical biochemist and Anglican priest who pioneered early research into the physical chemistry of DNA and has since become a leading advocate for the creative interaction between faith and science; and Robert Pollack, a professor of biological sciences, lecturer in psychiatry at the Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, and director of the Center for the Study of Science and Religion at Columbia University and the author of The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith (2000). These panelists have gathered to answer and discuss the question, "How can you reconcile the difference between evolution and religion?".

Explore the site. Read the questions. Consider the answers. Click here.

Science and Creationism

Science and Creationism

This book is authored by the Steering Committee on Science and Creationism, National Academy of Sciences

Book description:

"While the mechanisms of evolution are still under investigation, scientists universally accept that the cosmos, our planet, and life evolved and continue to evolve. Yet the teaching of evolution to schoolchildren is still contentious.
In Science and Creationism, The National Academy of Sciences states unequivocally that creationism has no place in any science curriculum at any level.

Briefly and clearly, this booklet explores the nature of science, reviews the evidence for the origin of the universe and earth, and explains the current scientific understanding of biological evolution. This edition includes new insights from astronomy and molecular biology.

Attractive in presentation and authoritative in content, Science and Creationism will be useful to anyone concerned about America's scientific literacy: education policymakers, school boards and administrators, curriculum designers, librarians, teachers, parents, and students."

Available online or free PDF download, click here