Will the transition ever occur in our lifetime?

Upon reading the ASA discussions recently surrounding YEC and ID, and following the news media on the heightened awareness of origins controversies, I attempted to identify the culprits.

Following are four hurdles that I believe we must overcome to make the transition from the current state of affairs to a recognition that belief in a divine creator does not equate to scientific ignorance:

1) POP-THEOLOGY - The role of pop-theology in American evangelical society is over-valued. Common avenues of pop-theology include: "Left Behind" book series, James Dobson, popular/trendy Bible study kits, contemporary music, and Christian radio stations.

2) ACADEMIC GAP - This goes hand-in-hand with number one. Most lay people will never attend seminary, never be exposed to academic journals, and never come into contact with rationale outside of pop-theology. Thus, pop-theology serves as their sole source on matters such as origins and end-times theology. Ministers who attended a seminary where academic freedom is tolerated discover quickly that introducing congregations to views other than what's popular does not make for good pulpit material. Any attempt to reveal scholarly perspectives can land a pastor in front of the personnel committee very quickly. Another aspect of the academic gap is the restriction on what professors can teach in Christian colleges. Should a teacher introduce TE as a viable view, and students tell their home church what their learning, home church will threaten to pull funding from the said college, and the said college will tell the teacher to stop discussing TE.

3) ANTI-EVOLUTION PROPAGANDA - Much of this comes through the Pop-Theology communication protocols. To attribute current immoral behavior as being the result of evolutionary teaching is a major disservice to origins science. How does one explain the immoral behavior prior to Darwin?

4) THE ISSUE IS BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION, NOT SCIENTIFIC DATA INTERPRETATION - The first three above are the result of this major misunderstanding. The irony here is that the accusations against scientists who interpret data in favor of evolution come from people who neglect authorial intent when interpreting Genesis. The assumption of a literal interpretation of a deep allegorical text has caused the current state of affairs.

-Phil
Received on Wed Oct 12 10:45:45 2005