Re: It's the Bible or evolution

Has anyone read Denyse's book?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Denyse O'Leary" <oleary@sympatico.ca>
To: "'George Murphy'" <gmurphy@raex.com>; "'Ted Davis'"
<tdavis@messiah.edu>; <randyisaac@adelphia.net>; <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2005 4:28 PM
Subject: RE: It's the Bible or evolution

> Yes. I heard what you said, George.
>
> I am saying that you CAN'T put a fence around the word "created" and make
> it
> mean only what you want.
>
> If unguided nature can "create" life (that is the prebiotic evolution
> account, I believe), so can scientists create life in the lab.
>
> In either case, one can claim that God had something to do with it - or
> that
> he didn't. No doubt, both claims will be made with equal force. So?
>
> The only result that will be really interesting will be if scientists end
> up
> giving up on creating life in the lab because the idea turns out to have
> conceptual problems, like squaring the circle. (I am not saying that I
> think
> this will happen, but that if it did, it would be really interesting.)
>
> But I won't respond further because when people campaign to restrict the
> use
> of terminology, they either succeed or fail. The odds I would give this
> one
> don't really matter.
>
> Cheers, Denyse
>
> - 0 -
>
> If life is created in the lab, that is precisely the sort of stuff that
> will
> be shaken up. That's the point I was trying to make. - cheers, Denyse
>
> Denyse -
>
> Did you read what I said at all? "If life is created in the lab" is
> exactly
>
> the kind of ambiguous usage we should try to avoid. It isn't much of a
> problem when we say that nuclear physicists have "created" atoms of
> element
> 109 (or whatever we're up to now) e.g. but that's only because that isn't
> something that gives rise to debates about religious issues. Talk about
> "creating life" does. Why not say "If life is made in the lab" - or even
> "If scientists are able to make living things in the lab"? It requires a
> little discipline but it's worth it.
>
> - 0 -
>
> --
> Read brief excerpts from my book, By Design or by Chance?: The Growing
> Controversy On the Origins of Life in the Universe (Augsburg Fortress,
> 2004)
> at
>
> http://www.designorchance.com/press.html
>
> Study Guide:
> http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/books/b088sk.htm
>
> Amazon:
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0806651776/qid=1109790930/sr=8
> -1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-8617533-8799957?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
> My blog:
>
> http://post-darwinist.blogspot.com/
> (go to other blogs from here)
>
> Denyse O'Leary
> Tel: 416 485-2392
> Fax: 416 485-2392
> oleary@sympatico.ca
> www.designorchance.com
>
>
Received on Sun Oct 2 09:10:06 2005