Many of the points that came up are ones that I\u2019ve made before on this blog and elsewhere. For instance, I emphasized that there is nothing specifically limited to evolution that singles it out for a greater degree of conflict with a literal reading of the Bible than other scientific fields. Some examples I offered include:<\/p>\n
(1) Genetics and embryology: Psalm 139:13<\/a> says that God knit the psalmist (and presumably humans in general) together in the mother\u2019s womb. Literalists ought to be up in arms about this and opposed to the contemporary scientific understanding, since it is not merely about the origin of our species but the status of each individual as a divine creation. Yet not only is there no Christian antiembryological movement that I know of, but many Christians find it comforting to believe that God does not directly cause congenital birth defects.<\/p>\n (2) Meteorology: Leviticus 26:4<\/a> attributes the rain directly to God, and so how can meteorologists dare to attribute it to natural phenomena such as barometric pressure and who knows what else?<\/p>\n (3) Astronomy and Australians: We had an entertaining discussion about the plausibility of the existence of Australians. But not only does Joshua 10:12-14<\/a> suggest a different view of the solar system than that accepted today, but it seems to involve Joshua addressing the sun and moon, which is a whole other discussion. When it comes to the movement of the earth, here we do<\/em> find people who reject mainstream science on the basis of an appeal to the Bible<\/a>. Passages like Psalm 104:5<\/a>, Psalm 93:1<\/a> and 1 Chronicles 16:30<\/a> are pretty clear.<\/p>\n And so, on the one hand, a genuinely and consistently literalistic approach to the Bible would put one at odds with all<\/em> science and many other fields of knowledge, and not just evolution. On the other hand, the evidence for evolution is every bit as solid as for other scientific fields. That doesn\u2019t mean that our knowledge is not growing. At times new discoveries<\/a> do cause us to revise or supplement our earlier thinking. But what is striking is that, while scientists love making new discoveries that show where other great minds have been wrong, propelling the discoverer\/pioneer to the front cover of science magazines, we\u2019ve yet to see a young-earth creationist or proponent of intelligent design accomplish that, because they are not offering research that improves our understanding, but mere empty criticism that neither correctly identifies problems with current theory or offers genuinely helpful improvements or alternatives.<\/p>\n We concluded with me pointing out that those who claim that science, or more specifically evolutionary biologists, reduce human beings to a mere pile of chemicals of little value, simply misunderstand the nature of scientific analysis. Genesis 2 says humans are dirt, if one wants to talk about physical make-up. Neither<\/a> religion nor science claims humans are more or less valuable because of our composition. If there is anything that makes us valuable, it is the complex arrangement<\/a> of the matter that makes us up, and our capacity to relate to one another and to God, to compose and appreciate works of beauty, and in other ways transcend<\/a> what might be expected of the atoms that make up our physical composition.<\/p>\n
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