Folks,
In a recent post, Dick F. Said
"Actually, Skip Evans wrote that. He is with the NCSE. However, I will
offer a bit of commentary. If you know Behe's position, he believes in
an
old earth and even mutual shared common ancestry between humans and
primates. I know, I asked him. He says not one word about his
evolutionist beliefs in his book on ID. Why? Phil Johnson has no
illusions about the age of the earth. Again, his books say nothing
about
it. Again, why?
Simply put, creationists buy books. Why risk alienating them with the
truth? It is just this duplicity coming from those who call themselves
"Christian" that gets right up my nose. "
Lets be fair. I thought I read their position in both Behe and
Johnson. I took a look and I was right. In Darwin's Black Box Behe
says, "further I find the idea of common descent (that all organisms
share a common ancestor) fairly convincing, and have no particular
reason to doubt it. p. 5.
I don't think he says anything about being a Roman Catholic in the book
but I suspect he thought that was not germane to his argument.
Certainly if he wanted to attract the YEC crowd he would have mentioned
his faith commitment.
Phil Johnson makes it rather clear in his introduction to Darwin on
Trial that his own position is NOT YEC. He says, "I am not a defender
of Creation Science and in fact am not concerned in this book with
addressing any conflicts between the Biblical accounts and the
scientific evidence.' (p. 14) Yes as Davis indicated, Johnson as a
leader of the ID movement want YEC to feel welcome in the ID tent and in
my conversation with ID folks, they purposefully avoid arguing about YEC
OEC stands. In a few sentences before this Johnson says, "I am a
philosophical theist and a Christian. I believe that a God exists who
could create out of nothing if he wanted to do so, but who might have
chosen to work through a natural evolutionary process instead."
I don't find either hiding their own belief. They are attractive to
evangelicals because of their opposition to a SECULAR evolutionary
theory that leaves God out.
I do not agree with everything the ID movement says, but I have and
continue to have interaction with many in the movement. I find this
forum VERY critical of ID misquotes so I did not like the assertion that
leaders in the ID are hiding their own positions.
James Mahaffy (mahaffy@dordt.edu) Phone: 712 722-6279
Biology Department FAX : 712
722-1198
Dordt College, Sioux Center IA 51250
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