Mohler Misses the Point

On the occasion of Darwin’s 200th birthday, Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, shared an editorial on Darwinism.  “

“If you understand Christianity or even Theism – the belief of a sovereign creator God – and evolutionary theory in its dominant form , I find it impossible to reconcile the two… While the Bible doesn’t explain all the mechanisms God used to create the world, it gives believers many non-negotiables about what that creation is, who is behind it, and for what purpose it was created,” he said.

He went on to explain how the “originating mechanism of creation” is where theism runs right into collision with where modern evolutionary theory is. Whereas the Biblical account of creation accepts the role of a Creator, the theory of evolution “suggests that natural selection is indeed the mechanism and that it is entirely natural and in no case supernatural,” said the theologian. “There is no way for God to intervene in the process and for it to remain natural,” he asserted.

In an effort to further defend his position he said, “As Genesis indicates, He created the world in order that the world might be the theater of His glory for the demonstration of the Gospel of Christ (doesn’t say that in Genesis) and He created human beings as the only beings made in His image, as His covenant partner,”

Mohler’s comments raise many questions.  1) Why should a hermeneutic position on the Genesis document be given greater weight than the sum of pressing evidence from the very real world in which we all live?; 2) Why should we assume that God would need to intervene in evolutionary processes?  3) Why does Mohler pass off Christianity in as simplistic a way as to suggest that a “real understanding” of Christianity precludes a belief in evolution? 4) See point 3 but substitute “theism” for “Christianity;” 5) Is there any record of extant supernatural overides on the process of natural selection, perhaps this point is a non-issue?

Just wondering

Darwin Day February 12th

Today marks the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin. There is even a website devoted to the 200th anniversary marking the birth of this distinguished naturalist: Darwin Day.org

Fox News mentions Gallup and Pew polls which show that fewer than 4 in 10 Americans believe that evolution is factual (Fox News article). The Gallup poll found a significant link between understanding of evolution and education, “Just 21 percent of respondents who had up to a high school level of education believe in evolution, compared with 74 percent of those with postgraduate degrees.” It is a little surprising that only 74% of those holding post grad degrees accept evolution as fact. “Among weekly churchgoers, only 24 percent said they believe in evolution, while 41 percent do not and 35 percent have no opinion.”

Fox News also offers several links to evolutionary articles and hosts it’s own online center. Missing Links Fox News Evolutionary and Paleontology Center Celebrations today in Britain include exhibitions of artifacts, tours, and, at the Bristol Zoo if you visit wearing a real or fake beard (certainly non sexist), you get in for free (Bristol Zoo). Quoted from an article on the Bristol Zoo site, “Simon Garrett, Head of Learning at Bristol Zoo Gardens, said: “Darwin is now a household name and, over the last 150 years, his ideas have revolutionised our understanding of nature and our place within it. Bristol Zoo’s ‘beard day’ is a fun way of commemorating Darwin’s life and work while allowing visitors to find out more about his theories.” ” “Among the biggest celebrations is at the Natural History Museum in London which is putting on films, talks and pea soup, cooked to the recipe of Darwin’s wife, Emma.” And, at 5:45 pm today there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey.

Talk about turning the other cheek

A reddit link led me to an article on Haaretz.com that talks about how Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them.

“A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face. The clergyman preferred not to lodge a complaint with the police and told an acquaintance that he was used to being spat at by Jews. Many Jerusalem clergy have been subjected to abuse of this kind. For the most part, they ignore it but sometimes they cannot.“