Re: Inherently anti-theistic?

Gordon Simons (simons@stat.unc.edu)
Wed, 7 Jun 1995 14:46:14 -0400 (EDT)

Bill writes:

"My perception is that it is a contradiction in terms to claim that a
scientific theory is anti-theistic. Scientific theories deal with natural
phenonena, not with first causes or supernatural or spiritual issues.
_People_ can be anti-theistic, and they can even try to enlist the support
of scientific theories for their anti-thestic positions. But I believe it
is illogical to say that a scientific theory is anti-theistic."

Very well put! But it seems to me that Christians must be prepared to
view scientific theories in such a neutral way. Alas, this is not always
the case. And, as Glenn has observed, some Christians have even found it
"necessary" to make false claims - apparently to resist a scientific
theory they take to be anti-theistic.

For some reason, God has allowed a good deal of mischief on the part of
those who "try to enlist the support of scientific theories for their
anti-theistic positions". I wonder how tolerant he is of the "mischief"
of Christians who refuse to let God be God - by letting him use whatever
means of creation he deems best - without questioning whether he would or
would not do this or that.

Before this century, how many Christians would have guessed that God would
have produced a creation with quantum mechanics as a secondary cause? -
or, apparently, started it with a "big bang"? If anything, we must be
prepared for additional surprises, without putting God in the dock before
we are willing to accept them as genuinely possible.

Gordie