Michael,
Thanks for posting this fine piece by Denis Alexander. For the most part I
am in hearty agreement with his assessment.
A couple of exceptions:
>> Attempts have often been made to utilise the
>> prestige of scientific theories to prop up particular personal ideologies.
>> Darwinian evolution has been used to justify capitalism, communism,
> racism,
>> and a number of other isms'. This is an abuse of science; evolution is an
>> excellent theory to explain the origins of biological diversity, but it
> has
>> little or no religious significance - it can be placed equally well within
>> an atheistic or theistic context.
I'm not as convinced about this as Denis is. Theism, with its Creator as the
Source of the universe's being, can offer a reason for the possibility that
the universe has all of the astounding qualities (what I call it's "robust
formational economy") that make evolutionary development possible. Atheism,
on the other hand, must take this as an astounding accident. Furthermore,
given this as the character of the universe and its formational history,
there are some important theological implications regarding the character of
divine creative action.
>> For the Christian, God can bring about his intentions
>> any way he chooses, and all that scientists can do is try to describe how
> he did it.
Yes, but what God chooses to do must be consistent with God's character and
will. Thus God cannot bring about God's intentions in just _any_ way, but
must remain true to God's own being.
Howard Van Till
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