I have been re-reading after many years some of C.S. Lewis's essays. His 1945 piece
entitled "Christian apologetics" makes the following statement:
"If you know any science it is desirable that you should keep up. We have to answer
the current scientific attitude toward Christianity, not the attitude which scientists
adopted one hundred years ago. Science is in continual change, and we must try and
keep abreast of it. For the same reason, we must be very cautious of snatching at any
scientific theory which, for the moment, seems to be in our favour. We may mention
such things, but we must mention them lightly and without claiming that they are more
than "interesting". Sentences beginning "Science has now proved" should be avoided.
if we try and base our apologetic on some recent development in science, we shall
usually find that just as we have put the finishing touches to our argument science
has changed its mind and quietly withdrawn the theory we have been using as our
foundation stone."
ID and the anthropic principle spring to mind at this point. of course, what Lewis
could not conceive is that many so called apologists would continue to use scientific
ideas long after they had been shown to be invalid.
Respectfully
Jonathan
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