When we discussed the debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham in my Sunday school class this past weekend, I highlighted one major reason why Ken Ham’s variety of Christianity disturbs me.
For young-earth creationists, exposure to mainstream education, scientific evidence, and a range of viewpoints and the cases for them, is something dangerous that Christians ought to avoid. Their very faith is at peril.
The message conveyed by them is that Christian faith is something that cannot withstand scrutiny. It is not something that is compatible with an open mind or openness to evidence changing one’s view on an important subject.
If that impression which Ken Ham conveys about the Christian faith is correct, then he and his followers are declaring defeat. They may be able to hang on to their dubious presuppositions by insulating themselves from knowledge and learning. They may be able to isolate their children and succeed in having some of them persevere in the same way. But there is little chance of Christianity surviving, or having a significant impact in the world, if it is something so fragile and ultimately so dubious.
As a progressive Christian, my Christian faith is something that is constantly evolving in response to things that I learn and evidence that I encounter. It is something that grows, develops, and changes. It is something healthy, living, and robust.
If you are a Christian who is tired of having a faith that is an embarrassment, something that can only be defended by shielding it from close examination, I invite you to try a different sort of Christianity out for size.
It may involve so radically changing your outlook that the experience can only be described as a conversion.
Of related interest, see Peter Enns’ post on what views it is considered “safe” to hold in certain circles, and Ian Paul’s post about Evangelicals and critical engagement.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In