>(1) Who is Jonathon Wells? Is he associated with Johnson in some way?
>(2) What is the Wedge?
>(3) Does anyone know what church Johnson attends or identifies with?
>Does he claim to be a professing Christian?
I'll let others answer the first 2 questions of Wendee's, but as to the
third, PEJ is a member of the Presbyterian Church, PCUS (or at least he
was 5 years ago when he first spoke at our church apologetics conference
then. He spoke again this year at the apologetics conference - at
Briarwood Presbyterian Church, PCA, in Birmingham, AL. I think he still
goes to the same PCUS church now). The Presbyterian Church in America
(PCA) split off from the mainline Presbyterian Church in the early
seventies because of the increasingly liberal drift of the mainline
church. The pastor at Briarwood was one of the leaders in the schism.
That pastor, Frank Barker, has recently retired, but he would have had
the opportunity to nix PEJ both times if he had had any reason to suspect
that PEJ were not a Christian.
I think the thrust of this thread, with the exception of Moorad's post,
is off base. Johnson is trying to get the Bible out of the discussion,
not because he doesn't think the Bible is the Word of God, but because he
thinks evolution should be analyzed on its own merits, regardless of its
lack of support (or support) from scripture.
I understand this perhaps a little better than most here. When I try to
present evidence that the organics from coal were transported and
deposited from water rather than having grown in place in swamps (the
prevalent view in geology), I am usually accused by some of having a YEC
agenda, of having my mind made up before I even look at the field data,
or of ignoring critical data in my zeal to prove the Bible.
IMHO, Johnson is on the right track.
Bill