Re: Phillip Johnson (and Methodological Naturalism)

From: Howard J. Van Till (hvantill@chartermi.net)
Date: Wed Oct 15 2003 - 08:40:03 EDT

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    From: "Jim Armstrong" <jarmstro@qwest.net>

    > I'm still sorta baffled that Wells is used in the Christian community as an
    > authority, given his Unification church affiliation. I guess the suitably
    > prebiased position with respect to evolution takes priority.
    > http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Wells/DARWIN.htm

    Here's a sample of Wells' autobiographical material:

    > At the end of the Washington Monument rally in September, 1976, I was
    > admitted to the second entering class at Unification Theological Seminary.
    > During the next two years, I took a long prayer walk every evening. I asked
    > God what He wanted me to do with my life, and the answer came not only
    > through my prayers, but also through Father's many talks to us, and through
    > my studies. Father encouraged us to set our sights high and accomplish
    > great things.
    >
    > He also spoke out against the evils in the world; among them, he frequently
    > criticized Darwin's theory that living things originated without God's
    > purposeful, creative activity. My studies included modern theologians who
    > took Darwinism for granted and thus saw no room for God's involvement in
    > nature or history; in the process, they re- interpreted the fall, the
    > incarnation, and even God as products of human imagination.
    >
    > Father's words, my studies, and my prayers convinced me that I should
    > devote my life to destroying Darwinism, just as many of my fellow
    > Unificationists had already devoted their lives to destroying Marxism. When
    > Father chose me (along with about a dozen other seminary graduates) to
    > enter a Ph.D. program in 1978, I welcomed the opportunity to prepare myself
    > for battle.

    A question for Darwin scholars:

    Did Darwin, as Wells here states, actually say that "living things
    originated without God's purposeful, creative activity"?

    A question for Jonathon Wells (or his defenders):

    If there are now things that happen "naturally," does that mean that they
    are therefore in conflict with, or could not be a manifestation of, "God's
    purposeful, creative activity"?

    Howard Van Till

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