"I agree that, fundamentally, ideas should be evaluated on their merits.
But, those who propose ideas also have some responsibility to guard
against their misuse. If PJ and the ID movement are, as they often
claim, just doing science and philosophy rather than apologetics, then
much of the church (which sees their work as "showing that Christianity
isn't false after all because evolution isn't true after all") has
grossly misunderstood what they are doing. If they care about the health
of the church, they should work to correct this misconception. Instead,
some of them seem to bask in it (perhaps because that really is how they
want the church to view their work)."
With the caveat that all of us have just so much time to spend, and that
includes PJ, that seems reasonable. Of course, I suspect PJ really
believes that Christianity and evolution (the grand concept) cannot
co-exist -- so at most one could ask of him is that he acknowledge, form
time to time, that a lot of people, who are pretty smart, think they can.
And that a few others, such as me, who don't buy into the grand concept,
still don't see any reason why the two can co-exist OK.
Allan goes on to say:
"I think it is also legitimate to point out (one hopes with love and
humility) when/if our Christian brothers appear to lack integrity by
presenting themselves as a secular intellectual effort sometimes and as
an apologetic Christian crusade in other circumstances, depending on
which is most convenient. A symptom of such a problem might be
supporting someone who apparently lied about being a Christian in order
to join the ASA."
Umm. I suspect that pointing out to other people how I perceive them to
"lack integrity" is an action I would take with considerable fear and
trembling. And then, privately.
I don't know who you are referring to in the last sentence above, but if
a person says he/she is a Christian, I accept that. Should the subject
arise, I might discuss with him, privately, how [perhaps] we had a
substantial difference of opinion on the meaning of certain words, and
what that might mean.
The ASA is big enough to include Christians coming from many many
viewpoints and from "babes in Christ" to mature believers. From fundies
to liberals. And that is how it ought to be, IMHO.
Best for the new year. Apologies for calling you "Allen" instead of
"Allan" in my last post. It is good to dialog with you.
Burgy