{"id":13982,"date":"2013-04-11T15:35:56","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T19:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=13982"},"modified":"2013-04-11T15:35:56","modified_gmt":"2013-04-11T19:35:56","slug":"terry-mortenson-at-butler-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html","title":{"rendered":"Terry Mortenson at Butler University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I went today to hear the lunchtime talk by Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis. The title was \u201cWas Darwin Right?\u201d The title reflects the classic young-earth creationist tactic of focusing attention on individuals and work done in the past \u2013 quoting Darwin on gaps in the evidence a century and a half ago, without ever mentioning someone like Francisco Ayala<\/a>, a contemporary Christian geneticist who points out<\/a> that there are no longer any gaps thanks to the availability of genetic evidence<\/a>, allows the young-earth creationist to give a twisted impression of the science. (Of course, some more recent individuals are quoted \u2013 but only selectively, when it serves their interests).<\/p>\n

\"\"His thesis, as he summed it up early on, were that natural selection and mutation occur, but that they are the opposite of evolution. Ironically, this point illustrates how young-earth creationism has evolved, conceding points it used to dispute, and cross-pollinating with Intelligent Design.<\/p>\n

Mortenson then discussed the assumptions that control science: naturalism, that matter is all that exists. Scientists do science as though matter is all that exists, and assume that chance plus the laws of nature can explain everything.<\/p>\n

Since at one point he showed a picture of clouds as an example of chance and the laws of nature at work, at the end of the talk, I asked why he buys into such atheistic assumptions of meteorologists, who consistently ignore God when reporting on the weather. I quoted some lines from Job 26. Ironically, Mortenson was happy to say that God creating laws of nature, which then work, was good enough. And so this illustrated another point I made, which is about the excluded middle \u2013 the fact that he is contrasting young-earth creationism with atheists\u2019 views of science. But there are plenty of Christians who would say the same thing about biological evolution that Mortenson said about the weather \u2013 even though the Bible\u2019s language gives a different impression in both areas.<\/p>\n

Selective quotations, together with misleading images and analogies, offered an overall depiction of evolution that was far from what biologists actually talk about. One example was a picture that envisaged evolution moving from a modern microbe to a modern fish to a modern frog and so on, rather than dealing with common ancestry in an accurate way.<\/p>\n

\"\"Some points were more annoying than others. He mentioned a picture drawn by one Dr. Gingrich of the ancestor to modern whales, based on a fossil skull when that was all they had discovered at that point. Of course, when a fuller fossil was discovered, the reconstruction changed. Depicting such progress in knowledge as though it were evidence of something wrong with science is thoroughly deceptive.<\/p>\n

Likewise with the Piltdown Man hoax, instead of honestly indicating that the hoax was exposed by scientists, he gave the impression that the hoax was covered up by scientists.<\/p>\n

Even though he treated abiogenesis and evolution as though they were synonymous, he did say that\u00a0\u201cnatural selection is a fact.\u201d But he then went on to say (rightly, but misleadingly) that natural selection is not evolution. He depicted it as a conservative process, one that does not produce different kinds (Biblical kinds now being defined as above the level of species in the modern sense). Slides were shown with changes in dogs \u2013 a process which, in the young-earth system, involves faster evolution than modern science posits! Mortenson claimed that a \u201closs of genetic information\u201d occurs to produce a Chihuahua. There were catchy phrases, such as that \u201cnatural selection explains survival of the fittest, but not the arrival of the fittest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mortenson also acknowledged that \u201cmutations are a fact\u201d but (once again borrowing from Intelligent Design) said that\u00a0mutations do not increase information.\u00a0Directionless, mindless changes only harm and do not improve.\u00a0He even claimed that bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics is not evolution, since \u201cthey survive because of less information.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was pleased to hear Mortenson honestly come out and say, having talked about mutations that causes illnesses, that \u201cMutations are the God-ordained consequences of God\u2019s curse.\u201d Some young-earth creationists still seem to think otherwise, and that it is only or moreso in positing God creating through evolution that mutations and suffering are a problem.<\/p>\n

The entire things was one big presentation of a false antithesis: mindless atheistic evolution vs. creation without evolution.<\/p>\n

Towards the end, Mortenson asked \u201cDoes it really matter?\u201d In response, he mentioned\u00a0William B. Provine, and the view that, according to evolution,\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re just animals, the result of an accident.\u201d But that isn\u2019t something that evolution can say. Whether we are the result of the laws of physics at work or a direct creative act, neither diminishes who we are. But by associating evolution with this illogical corollary, it helped support the appeal to people to reject evolution and choose meaningful lives \u2013 again going back to the false antithesis.<\/p>\n

Mortenson quoted Romans 1:20<\/a> \u2013 and yet that verse says that God is testified to accurately by creation, something that is incompatible with young-earth creationism, which has to deny and argue against much of the evidence.<\/p>\n

The conclusion was an invitation to buy books and DVDs.<\/p>\n

Here is the main question I had for Terry Mortenson at the end: since he mentioned that he himself became a Christian without having evolution challenged, and since students who study biology having previously been steeped in young-earth creationism often lose their faith when they are presented with how extensive the evidence for evolution is, while well-informed people are driven away from the Christian faith by its association with young-earth creationism, and since even Mortenson\u2019s own organization says that acceptance of evolution is not something that determines whether one is truly a Christian, then why do they spend so much time and money promoting a viewpoint that hinders the spread of the Gospel and harms the reputation of the Christian faith?<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t find his answer to that any more satisfactory than the rest of his presentation.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u2019m not sure who most of the people there were. Some were definitely from outside the university. I included in my question a statement that I hope those present will fact-check the claims made in the presentation.<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I went today to hear the lunchtime talk by Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis. The title was \u201cWas Darwin Right?\u201d The title reflects the classic young-earth creationist tactic of focusing attention on individuals and work done in the past \u2013 quoting Darwin on gaps in the evidence a century and a half ago, without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,108],"tags":[662,2454,3217,14016],"class_list":["post-13982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evolution-science","category-young-earth-creationism","tag-answers-in-genesis","tag-darwin","tag-evolution-science","tag-young-earth-creationism"],"yoast_head":"\nTerry Mortenson at Butler University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I went today to hear the lunchtime talk by Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis. The title was "Was Darwin Right?" The title reflects the classic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Terry Mortenson at Butler University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I went today to hear the lunchtime talk by Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis. The title was "Was Darwin Right?" The title reflects the classic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-11T19:35:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-XeE9nzprdak\/TuDUWJXFzpI\/AAAAAAAAAnQ\/7RgEWhOqT0E\/s400\/aig_logo.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html\",\"name\":\"Terry Mortenson at Butler University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-11T19:35:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-11T19:35:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"I went today to hear the lunchtime talk by Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis. The title was \\\"Was Darwin Right?\\\" The title reflects the classic\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Terry Mortenson at Butler University\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Terry Mortenson at Butler University","description":"I went today to hear the lunchtime talk by Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis. The title was \"Was Darwin Right?\" The title reflects the classic","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Terry Mortenson at Butler University","og_description":"I went today to hear the lunchtime talk by Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis. The title was \"Was Darwin Right?\" The title reflects the classic","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2013-04-11T19:35:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-XeE9nzprdak\/TuDUWJXFzpI\/AAAAAAAAAnQ\/7RgEWhOqT0E\/s400\/aig_logo.gif"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html","name":"Terry Mortenson at Butler University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-11T19:35:56+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-11T19:35:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"I went today to hear the lunchtime talk by Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis. The title was \"Was Darwin Right?\" The title reflects the classic","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/04\/terry-mortenson-at-butler-university.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Terry Mortenson at Butler University"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}