Does the Bible and Evolution Harmonize? - March 5, 2006

By: Sellers S. Crain, Jr.

    Michael Zimmerman, Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences of the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, recently organized a nationwide event, called "Evolution Sunday."  450 churches "celebrated" Darwin's birthday, with services towards emphasizing that faith and Evolution are compatable, and that Christians do not have to choose between them.  Zimmerman, wrote in explanation of this event: "It's to demonstrate, by Christian leaders and members of the clergy, that you don't have to make that choice.  You can have both."

    Zimmerman went on to say, that the event was designed to "educate Americans" about two things: "The first part was to demonstrate to the American public that the shrill fundamentalist voices that were demanding the people had to choose between religion and science were simply wrong.  The second part was to demonstrate that those fundamentalist leaders that keep standing up and shouting that you can't accept modern science were not speaking for the majority of Christian leaders in this country."

    The Discovery Institute, is a Seattle based think tank which funds research into neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, such as the concept of intelligent design, which points to the fact that complexities of life not explained by evolution are best attributed to an unseen intelligence.  It's president, Bruce Chapman, wrote in response to Zimmerman's event under the title "On Evolution Sunday It's Give Me That Old Time Darwinist Religion," that "Evolution Sunday is the height of hypocrisy."  He wrote that "The Darwinists are hypocrites for claiming - falsely - that opposition to Darwinism is merely faith-based, and then turning around and trying to make the case that Darwinism itself is faith-based."

    A United Church of Christ pastor, Mike Southcombe, who joined Zimmerman's campaign, said he joined it because of his "concern about what he sees as a growing conflict between religion and science."  He wrote that "We've become a very divided culture - and there are people out there who say people of faith should deny science...I think to ignore scientific findings and theories is simply unfaithful."

    With no apologies to either Mr. Zimmerman or Mr. Southcombe, there is no conflict between science and religion.  There is a conflict between false religion and scientism, the false theories of so-called science.  Paul wrote, "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called."  (1 Timothy 6:20 KJV)

    It is wrong to say that "fundamentalist Christians" do not believe in "modern science" because we object to the false claims of evolution.  It is equally wrong to suggest that we are not "people of faith" because we reject the unscientific "findings" of evolution.  Doug Couch recently wrote that the New York Times reported (February 21, 2006) that more than 500 scientists with Ph.D.'s signed a petition expressing doubts about evolution.  In a statement in the article, one of their spokesmen said, "We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life.  Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged."  Do you think these scientists are just "shrill fundamentalist voices," or those who "ignore scientific findings and theories"?

Brotherly,

Sellers