Giving Thanks for Darwin on Evolution Weekend

February 9, 2012 By davidrhenson 6 Comments

For many Christians, evolution is a synonym for atheism.

The notion that life evolved slowly over millions of years through natural selection rather than spontaneously erupting from the hand of God has largely destabilized the traditional understanding of the natural order as presented in the creation myths of Genesis.

For a number of Christians, evolution kills any possibility of a magnificent Creator who formed the cosmos from the void,  the Artist who paints the horizons with wondrous sunsets, the Potter who molds the human clay, the Author who writes the story of life on Earth.

Without an author, humans can no longer be sure that the story’s end will be happy. Without a painter, humans cannot behold the beauty of God within the natural world. Without a potter, humans are little more than off-center lumps of clay twirling awkwardly on the wheel of life. Without a Creator, humans can no longer be made in his image.

I should know, because I used to be one of those Christians. For years, I thought of Darwin as an agent of devilish misinformation who stood against God’s ultimate, infallible truth when it came to creation. To me, evolution was one of the great spiritual battles of modern times, and I was a foot soldier on the side of God fighting against an onslaught of evolutionary godlessness.

For me at the time, a Christian who accepted the theory of evolution as a scientific truth wasn’t just as signal of a lack of faith or a capitulation to secular culture.

Instead, it signaled the end – the death – of the Creator God.

But such a death also signals liberation.

So in honor of Darwin’s birthday and Evolution Weekend, I am giving thanks as a Christian like others in the Clergy Letter Project for the courageous brilliance of the man who pioneered the theory of evolution and for the invigorating liberation he has offered people of faith. As an Episcopalian, I am proud and honored that Darwin is buried in Westminster Abbey in London, thinking, in fact, that it is quite appropriate that his body lies there.

Indeed, once the defensive naivety of biblical literalism fades, I suspect that the Christian faith will look back in gratitude on the in-breaking of evolution into human consciousness as one of the most significant and fruitful theological events from the modern, scientific age.

Instead of one autonomous Creator dictating by divine right an absolute morality to which all human knees must bow, evolution offers us the ability to not just share and experience the world but to become creators of it ourselves. And this offer extends beyond humanity to the entire natural world. Indeed, through evolution, the whole earthly realm becomes collaborators with each other, creating together the world in which we live.

Evolution shows us that species develop in response to the natural world, slowly and incrementally over time, and that one species’ evolution often impacts the evolution of other plants and animals within its ecosystem. Most, if not all, of this is random and selected naturally, but I can’t help but marvel at the evolutionary concert that plants, animals, reptiles, insects and humans have created up to this point.

Viewed theologically, this means that we are all creators, made in one another’s images, adapting to the adaptations of each other. As humans create on earth so to does the earth create on us. In our interconnected web of creating and being created, we come to be images of our planet and of all our co-creators on this terrestrial sphere. In this view, we can truly begin to see the deep wisdom of St. Francis of Assisi who called the moon, water, larks and crickets his sisters, the wind, fire, rabbits and wolves his brothers, and the whole Earth his mother.

Within evolution, everything and everyone has the potential be be a creator, as we live, breathe, interact, share and become Earth together. The wind, weather, environments, habits and our effects on them slowly change our planet, creating, over time, new heavens and new earths. All of us, from the microorganism to the elephant, become equals, subject to one another, in competition at times as much as collaboration.

The question, then, that evolution presents Christians is not whether Darwin’s theory killed the Creator God. Rather, evolution asks us, “What kind of creators will we be?”

Perhaps this is the theological implication of evolution that most terrifies some Christians, the notion that we are all active creators rather than the passive creations. Because within this theological turn, we are simply human beings with the ability to create, like everything else. The difference for humans however is that, by and large, we should be responsible for what we create.

And so much of what Christianity has created of late has been dangerously toxic.

In the end, though, it will not be to some distant being to which we will have to answer for these creations. It will be to each other, to Sister Cricket, Brother Wolf and Mother Earth.

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  • http://morganguyton.wordpress.com/ Morgan Guyton

    “Viewed theologically, this means that we are all creators, made in one another’s images, adapting to the adaptations of each other.” Isn’t this a perfect description of the creation of commodities through exchange in the free market? The consequence of Darwinism is the loss of a doctrine of divine providence, without which I can feel free not to see my wealth as the gift of a Father to be shared with my brothers and sisters in need. I’m not proposing Genesis literalism, but I do want to affirm that whatever has happened, the Creator has been infinitely intimately involved. Without that affirmation, I’m not sure why the Koch brothers shouldn’t be playing the “survival of the fittest” game.

    • http://www.facebook.com/unorthodoxologist David Henson

      But wealth isn’t a gift from God, IMO, so no one who has wealth should give it away because it is from God. Rather they should give it away because it is ethical behavior in relationship with other people. Most often, as in the Koch Bros case, wealth is a gift/sacrifice from the Earth (through exploitation and degradation) and our fellow humans (through oppression, poor wages). Wealth is often already taken from those in need and at the expense of the earth. What I’m getting at in this post is that by viewing ourselves as equals (relational) with each other and all creatures — not as things to exploit — then it makes the kind of thing your suggesting impossible.

      Why does Darwinisim necessitate the loss of the doctrine of God being active in the world? I’m not sure it is necessary to affirm that God has been intimately involved in the process of evolution if we understand that *we* have been involved in the process of evolution. Evolution is not something that is just acted out upon us but is something that we act upon ourselves.

      I think your comment assumes that the survival of the fittest is an individualistic game one needs to “win” and that if we only look out for ourselves and our interests a la the Koch Brothers then we have the best chance of survival. I think that takes an immediate view of the very long-term process of evolution. My point is, and this is the theological turn, if we combine the insights of evolution with our faith, then we begin to understand that the survival of the fittest is best understood in a relational way. Our planet, our species and our families survive if we all survive; Our planet, our species, our families have the best chance of surviving if we understand ourselves as dependent upon one another. Survival, in this context, is long-term.

      In this, I’m suggesting the exact opposite of commodities through exchange in the free market. Rather I’m suggesting the binding of our fates to our brothers and sisters — every plant and animal and person — on our planet. I’m suggesting relation not commodity.

      Does that help clear things up?

  • Ephraim7

    The evolution theory is an irrational falsehood, embraced by atheists, that is a phony conclusion of the 600+ million year fossil record. There is no valid “supporting data” for evolution. In a court of law, or in a public forum, the same evidence that evolutionists would use to try to “prove” that false theory, I would utilize to reveal the truth of Genesis. In order to believe in evolution, you have to purposely ignore certain facts of reality. For example, when you see illustrations of primates being pictured as evolving into humans, it can be shown in a court of law that such a premise is impossible, because certain human and primate traits are different, and could not have ever been shared. The only “common ancestor” that humans and primates share is God Himself.

    Creationism can’t be taught in science class, ONLY BECAUSE there is no one in any school system that is qualified to teach Biblical Creation. The doctrines of current Creationism are both false (old earth), and foolish (young Earth). Both creationist views misrepresent the Genesis text, and should not be part of any curriculum. The point I’m making is that part of the subject matter in biology science class is the advent and extinction of past life forms on Earth, which Creationism does not address. But without offering an opposing view, schools are brainwashing students with the tenets of Atheism, which is both unconstitutional to be state sponsored, and evil.

    Current Creationism is ignorant of the Genesis text, and either teaches foolishness (young Earth), or false doctrines (non-literal reading of the text). Creationists foolishly try to prove “Creationism”, rather than seeking and teaching the truth of Genesis. How can an untruth, ever prove another lie, to be in error? You can’t do it. That is why Creationism fails. It essentially is also a lie, and should be discarded.

    The correct opposing view to evolution is the “Observations of Moses”. It properly conveys what God was showing Moses, and explains the text of Genesis chapter one.

    Herman Cummings
    Ephraim7@aol.com

    • http://www.facebook.com/unorthodoxologist David Henson

      This is the oddest, perhaps delusional, response I’ve ever received. Please don’t use this discussion section to promote yourself. It is for having conversation.

      • Melanie

        David, I’m thinking the same thing. What on earth are you talking about, Herman? It doesn’t make sense on a rational or spiritual level. I’m confused.
        Melanie

        • kenneth

          What Brother Herman means is that he’s set up his shell and pea game called pseudoscience, and he’s selling “incontrovertible truth” which depends on you first swallowing his shaky premises for argument. He’s saying, basically, that because some aspects of morphology and the fossil record seem confusing and counter-intuitive to laymen, that therefore the whole theory of evolution cannot stand. It was all a false construct by atheists and shady scientists, he might argue. Only he has the proper cypher which will enable us to derive literal scientific truth from Scripture.

          His arguments rest on grotesque and deliberate misreading or ignorance of the vast bodies of evidence from a dozen disparate fields of science which all support the core theory of evolution. Work over centuries and generations of scientists who were very often trying to prove each other wrong and subjecting their findings to many levels of repeat verification. The work of ALL of these fields – genetics, chemistry, geology, physics, biology in its many forms – they ALL lend credence to the underlying concepts of evolution and a universe MUCH older than 6,000 years.