Quoting Marina Joubert's comment, Mikey Brass wrote:
>This is a position called theistic evolution. It is one held by
>myself and Professor Kenneth Miller amongst, obviously, thousands of
>others. Miller's book "Finding Darwin's God" is a good summary, as
>well as being a publication arguing against creationism (such as the
>Intelligent Design - Young Earth variant making headway in the UK).
Kenneth Miller is Professor of Biology at Brown University, Rhode
Island. His book, "Finding Darwin's God" makes it clear that he is a
committed Christian who believes in creation. That presumably makes
him a creationist. But Miller was also the key expert scientific
witness responsible for demolishing Intelligent Design arguments
presented at the high-profile 2005 'Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School
District' court-case. His evidence resulted in the sacking of the
pro-intelligent-design school board.
It is unfortunate that the title of Steve Jones' lecture fails to
distinguish between creationism (which, for many people raises no
issues with evolution) and militant creationism (which deliberately
opposes evolution).
The theistic view of science is not just slippery modern apologetics.
People like Miller, and others here, acknowledge that it has always
been part of mainstream Christian teaching. Arguing for a non-literal
reading of the creation 'days' in his book, 'Genesis in the Literal
Sense', Saint Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430) wrote :
"We must be on our guard against giving interpretations that are hazardous
or opposed to science, and so exposing the Word of God to the ridicule of
unbelievers."
As a Christian, Miller's testimony was doubly expert and doubly
hard-hitting against intelligent design advocates who claim to oppose
evolution in the name of respectable Christian orthodoxy. Darwin's
'church-mice' continue to play a critically important role in
resisting anti-evolution campaigning. (See, we are even here in PSCI-COM.)
To some, the title and parts of Steve Jones' lecture will appear to
endorse the 'Darwin's Bulldog' approach, where science is
misrepresented, equally unhelpfully, as an atheistic campaign to
exterminate religion. Yet he also ended his lecture by saying that we
are not 98% chimp, but 100% human in the things that matter. He also
said Darwinism does not make us less human: it makes us more human.
In my own experience, this kind of sensitivity is much more effective
in de-fusing militant creationist prejudice.
[log in to unmask] * http://www.interactives.co.uk
*
Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime.
*
Ian Russell
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