Re: Student perceptions re evolution

From: Josh Bembenek (jbembe@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Aug 21 2003 - 09:27:13 EDT

  • Next message: Jay Willingham: "Re: Student perceptions re evolution"

    As I understand it, the question put to the students wasn't whether they
    >accepted evolution but what percentage of academic biologists accept it.
    >The 2 are, of
    >course, related - those who don't want to think evolution is true would
    >like to believe
    >that "real scientists" agree with them.

    -Coming out of high school, I had absolutely no quarrel with evolution
    theory (what little I knew.) I was very eager to learn about science in
    high school, but learned very little about evolution. I also had little
    exposure to christian teachings at the time, so most of the influence on my
    understanding was directly from classroom teachings. Thus in answering such
    a question, I would have been unfamiliar with what professors thought of
    evolution (having never considered the question and not being exposed to
    their views at all- given poor textbooks) and would also have had very
    little idea of what importance such an issue had. It is doubtful I would
    have answered 90-100%.

    > No magic solution here but 2 suggestions - 1 that I've long harped on &
    >another
    >prompted by Howard's post.
    > 1) No headway will be made among conservative Christians who reject
    >evolution
    >unless one can convince them that a person can accept evolution without
    >abandoning the
    >traditional Christian faith.
    > 2) To the extent that evolution is identified in the popular mind with
    >dogmatic
    >atheists like Dawkins, it's possible for anti-evolutionists to portray his
    >whole
    >position - including his insistence on the scientific correctness of
    >evolution - as
    >extreme & therefore an aberration. We need to get before the public as
    >many examples as
    >possible of evolutionary scientists who don't have extreme anti-religious
    >views, some of
    >whom (though not necessarily all) should be Christians.

    I couldn't have thought of anything better. I am preparing a seminar on
    Science, Faith and Evolution for our church body and have been thinking
    deeply on the primary issue that I'd like to convey. For me, it isn't to go
    around and set certain facts into people's brains, i.e. go on a campaign to
    convince everyone that the earth is billions of years old. I have no reason
    for this if it could cause my brother to lose his faith or stumble, see also
    Romans 14. (Soap Box: My opinion is that those of you who have decided
    that evolution is true would be better suited to pursue an attitude of
    weaker/stronger brother towards young earth people rather than the
    mockery/hostile approach often expressed here.) The primary goal is to
    understand the nature of scientific fact and how it is interpreted, and to
    understand the relationship between science and faith not as a war of
    conflict but as complimentary but not completely overlapping sources of
    truth. I have been exposed to people who are personally conflicted about
    the existence of dinosaurs and it greatly astounds/troubles me. In my
    opinion, the real source of the problem is the nature of Christian truth.
    Most folks want their doubts completely dismembered and the way to do that
    is to believe in a set of completely inerrant principles that cannot be
    questioned from the Resurrection to a young earth. Thus every statement of
    faith is given equal footing and challenging any of it can challenge the
    veracity of the rest of it (is this the offspring of Howard's troublesome
    observation of "biblidolatry?".) I think conveying some kind of
    philosophy of knowledge, our infallible understanding, and our attempt to
    understand ultimate truth (something like Platonic forms) are key principles
    to help Christians open their minds to the possibilities wrt origins, and
    feel secure about the unknown.

    Josh

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