ASA in the News

The following was an op-ed
<http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/content/projo_20050119_19harr.b177f.html>
in the /Providence Journal/ and reprinted in this morning's /Denver Post/.

*Froma Harrop: Between evolution and religion *

* 01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, January 19, 2005 *

KEN MILLER IS an interesting guy. He is co-author of the nation's best
selling biology textbook. It was on his book, Biology, that schools in
Cobb County, Ga., slapped a label casting doubt on its discussion of
evolution theory. And it was this sticker that a federal judge recently
ordered removed because it endorsed religion. Miller, who testified
against the sticker, gets a lot of hate mail these days.

But Miller is also a practicing Roman Catholic. "I attend Mass every
Sunday morning," he said, "and I'm tired of being called an atheist."

A professor of biology at Brown University, Miller does not believe that
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution contradicts the creation passages
in the Bible. And he will argue the point till dawn.

"None of the six creative verses [in Genesis] describe an
out-of-nothing, puff-of-smoke creation," he says. "All of them amount to
a command by the creator for the earth, the soil and the water of this
planet to bring forth life. And that's exactly what natural history
tells us happened." (Miller has written a book on the subject: Finding
Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and
Evolution.)

Still, today's emotional conflicts over teaching this science in public
schools leave the impression that Christianity and evolution cannot be
reconciled. This is not so.

In 1996, Pope John II wrote a strong letter to the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences supporting the scientific understanding of evolution. That's
one reason why students in Catholic parochial schools get a more
clear-headed education in evolution science than do children at many
public schools racked by the evolution debate.

American parents who want Darwin's name erased from the textbooks might
be surprised at the father of evolution's burial spot. Darwin was laid
to rest in Westminster Abbey, an Anglican church and England's national
shrine.

Not every illustrious Englishman gains admission to an Abbey burial
site. Darwin died in 1882. Two years before, friends of George Eliot
wanted the famous (female) writer laid to rest at the Abbey. Eliot had
lived immorally, according to the church fathers, and was denied a
place. (She is buried at London's Highgate Cemetery, not far from Karl
Marx.)

But Darwin had been an upright man. The clergy were proud both of
Darwin's accomplishments and of their own comfort with modern science.

In 1882, during the memorial service for the great evolutionist, one
church leader after another rose to praise Charles Darwin. Canon Alfred
Barry, for one, had recently delivered a sermon declaring that Darwin's
theory was "by no means alien to the Christian religion."

Nowadays, Catholics and old-line Protestants have largely made peace
with evolution theory. Most objections come from evangelicals, and not
from all of them.

Francis Collins is head of the National Genome Project and a born-again
Christian. He belongs to the American Scientific Affiliation -- a
self-described fellowship of scientists "who share a common fidelity to
the Word of God and a commitment to integrity in the practice of
science." Its Web address is www.asa3.org <http://www.asa3.org/>.

But back in Cobb County, the debate rages. The sticker taken off
Miller's textbook read: "This textbook contains material on evolution.
Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living
things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied
carefully, and critically considered."

Why should Miller care that the Cobb County school board -- having
bought his book in great quantity -- pastes those words on the cover?

First, he says, "It implies that facts are things we are certain of and
theories are things that are shaky." In science, theory is a higher
level of understanding than facts, he notes. "Theories don't grow up to
become facts. Rather, theories explain facts."

Then he questions why, of all the material in his book, only evolution
is singled out for special consideration. Miller says that if he could
write the sticker, it would say, "Everything in this book should be
approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

Clearly, many religious people regard evolution theory with sincere and
heartfelt concern. But theirs is not a mainstream view -- even among
practicing Christians. Most theologians, these days, will argue that the
biology book and the Good Book are reading from the same page.

Froma Harrop is a Journal editorial writer and syndicated columnist. She
may be reached by e-mail at: fharrop [at] projo.com
<mailto:%66%68%61%72%72%6f%70%40%70%72%6f%6a%6f%2e%63%6f%6d>.
Received on Sun Jan 23 20:52:12 2005