| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fredric L. Rice" |
| Date: |
13 Feb 2006 11:33:42 AM |
| Object: |
Churches to mark Darwin's birthday |
Churches to mark Darwin's birthday
Hundreds to join `Evolution Sunday,' organized by a Wisconsin academic
By Lisa Anderson
Tribune national correspondent
February 11, 2006
NEW YORK -- Nearly 450 Christian churches around the country plan to
celebrate the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin on Sunday with programs and
sermons intended to emphasize that his theory of biological evolution is
compatible with faith and that Christians have no need to choose between
religion and science.
"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," said Michael
Zimmerman, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of
Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who organized the event.
Darwin's theory holds that life on Earth, including humans, shares common
ancestry and developed over millions of years through the mechanisms of
natural selection and random mutation. The concept is repugnant to many
conservative Christians because it conflicts with their belief that man was
specially created in the image of God.
"Evolution Sunday" has drawn participation from a variety of denominational
and non-denominational churches, including Methodist, Lutheran,
Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Congregationalist, United Church of
Christ, Baptist and a host of community churches, including at least 16
congregations in Illinois.
The event grew out of Zimmerman's The Clergy Letter Project, another effort
to dispel the perception among many Christians that faith and evolution are
mutually exclusive.
Clerics' affirmation
Since its inception in 2004, the project has drawn 10,000 Christian clerics
to sign a letter that concludes, "We urge school board members to preserve
the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the
theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that
science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very
different, but complementary, forms of truth."
Zimmerman said the letter project and the Sunday event were 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 that people had to choose between
religion and science were simply wrong," he said.
"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." .
However, "Evolution Sunday" drew sharp criticism from the Discovery
Institute. The Seattle-based think tank funds research into non-Darwinian
concepts such as intelligent design, which posits that some complexities of
life that are yet unexplained by evolution are best are attributed to an
unnamed and unseen intelligence.
Contradictory view
In a statement issued under the title "On Evolution Sunday It's Give Me
That Old Time Darwinist Religion," Discovery Institute president Bruce
Chapman said, "Evolution Sunday is the height of hypocrisy."
"Our view is not that pastors should speak out against evolution," he
added, "but 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."
Zimmerman, a former biology professor, said, "Science is limited under what
the scientific method allows you to do. I fear the Discovery Institute and
these other fundamentalists have science envy. They want science to ratify
their faith and beliefs and, by definition, you've got to take faith on
faith."
Rev. Mike Southcombe, pastor of St. John's United Church of Christ in
semirural Brighton, Ill., near St. Louis, said he joined Zimmerman's
campaign over concern about what he perceives as the growing conflict
between religion and science.
"We have become a very divided culture in this country, and there are
people out there who say people of faith should deny science. And I believe
that, in the great tradition of the church, science is one more way that
God reveals God's self and God's will for us. I think to ignore scientific
findings and theories is simply unfaithful," said Southcombe.
"I find deep spirituality in the truths of evolution."
Rev. Brett McCleneghan, senior minister of the Park Ridge Community Church
in Park Ridge, Ill., already has preached sermons on evolution and
creationism, he said. He also noted that the adult education group at his
church just completed a five-week series of lectures and discussions on
evolution, creationism and intelligent design.
Although, he said, most of his members express no incompatibility between
evolution and faith, he understands why many Christians find evolutionary
theory threatening.
"I think it might be a part of the larger issue of how do we find certainty
in the modern context, where all meaning is up for grabs," he said. "I
think it's a brave effort by folks . . . a way of saying no to
secularization."
---
"I did not have *****-fucking relations with Jack Abramoff" - George W. Bush
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| User: "Gail Futoran" |
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| Title: Re: Churches to mark Darwin's birthday |
13 Feb 2006 06:22:20 PM |
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"Fredric L. Rice" <FRice@SkepticTank.ORG> wrote in message
news:11v1ghq58kpcf6e@corp.supernews.com...
Churches to mark Darwin's birthday
Hundreds to join `Evolution Sunday,' organized by a Wisconsin academic
By Lisa Anderson
Tribune national correspondent
February 11, 2006
NEW YORK -- Nearly 450 Christian churches around the country plan to
celebrate the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin on Sunday with programs and
sermons intended to emphasize that his theory of biological evolution is
compatible with faith and that Christians have no need to choose between
religion and science.
[snip]
That's nice but...
In my corner of Texas, in a county with a
relatively low population, there are probably
450 churches within a 50 mile radius.
So while it's nice that some Christians accept
Darwin, it's not even a little bit surprising that
there are so few of them, or at least so few
that overtly celebrate his birthday.
Gail
aa#2247
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