ASA - October 1997: Re: Few Christian Nobelists- why??

Eduardo G. Moros (moros@castor.wustl.edu)
Mon, 20 Oct 1997 15:13:39 -0600

As a Presbyterian Provine should have been familiar with one of the famous
Five Points of Calvinism, the perseverance of the Saints. The faith of each
and every Christian is to be tested, and tested hard, to the limits, only
those who persevere (those who withstand the test) are the ones with genuine
faith. Faith grows thru testing. I don't mean that the truth should not be
sought and that the creation/evolution issue is not a real problem for the
faith, it is, but if your faith is genuine you'll come around --- like Glenn
did for example. You don't reject your faith for evolution/atheism, you just
never had it in the first place, period, at least that's how Calvin saw it.

Eduardo

> Re: Few Christian Nobelists- why??
>
> Glenn Morton (grmorton@waymark.net)
> Sat, 18 Oct 1997 21:54:17 -0500
> I have been watching the discussion of the Nobelists. I have one other
> explanation and that is that we Christians lose many of the brightest
> students when they begin to see the difference between what they were taught
> and what science observes. Some will remember the list of personal stories I
> posted a few months back about those who felt the origins issue were
> important enough to leave the faith. (If anyone missed it I would be glad to
> look it up and send them a copy). As one example I would cite E.O. Wilson, a
> world class scientist, who admits that the discrepancies between what
> Christians teach about sciecne and what science actually says caused him to
> leave the faith. He was raised Southern Baptist but rejected Christianity
> when he found out that evolution was true and Christians had no scenario
> which would match his view of truth. Wil Provine in a personal
> communication with me told me a similar story about his conversion to
> atheism. Provine, an exceptional scholar, is the son of a Presbyterian
> minister who didn't believe in evolution. Wil found out that the data for
> evolution was overwhelming and now actively challenges christians in his
> classroom. It is reported that up to 505 of his classes reject their faith
> after one semester in his class.
>
> To conclude, the failure of christianity especially conservative
> Christianity, to provide a scenario in which the Scriptures can be viewed as
> objectively true in light of modern scientific knowledge causes the
> defection of many who otherwise might become Nobel candidates. It is this
> loss that drives me. Not every student can feel comfortable with the view
> that the Scripture is true but doesn't describe what actually happened.
>
> glenn
>