an evolution-creation program
David S. Buchanan (buck353@okway.okstate.edu)
Sun, 17 Mar 1996 22:21:11 -0600 To the evolution and scichr lists
I attended a most interesting program tonight on our campus. It was
advertised as a discussion of evolution vs creation. The young-earth
creationist went first and presented a fairly standard talk from such
a position. Many of the usual arguments from Morris, Gish et al were
given. He was very polished and made numerous jokes about the
ridiculous nature of evolutionary arguments. He had the audience (I
estimate about 80-90% were members of the church that invited him)
very agitated by the end of his presentation about the unfairness of
the situation in public schools where only the evolutionary position
was being taught. By the time the other speaker took the platform, I
had a very powerful sense of hostility in the crowd.
The "evolution" speaker was a member of our Geology faculty. I
wondered how he was going to get the crowd to give him a chance. His
presentation was a bit rough and he admitted up front that he did not
fully decide how to approach the topic until this morning. He also
established that he was not interested in debating and that he would
not debate. In fact, he would not even comment on the things said by
the other speaker. He then proceeded to give an eloquent discussion of
the importance of both faith and science. He spoke of his own
pilgrimmage with Jesus and spoke very effectively about the nature of
scientific discovery. The eroding public confidence in science,
particulary in evangelical and fundamentalist groups, also figured
strongly in his discussion. It was an extremely impressive
presentation. Although I would not say he changed many minds in the
crowd, he effectively defused the hostility in the room. I also
believe that some members of the audience came away with a better
understanding of science.
Just thought some of you might be interested.
Dave