Re: RATE Vol. II

Thank you! Your last paragraphs reflect almost exactly my philosophy
of teaching -- only you stated it better. Those are the ideals I aim
for, even if I was immersed among a different set of ideologies than I
currently am.

To which recent and evangelically recognizeable names can we point as
evidence that embracing (or at least not rejecting) evolutionary thought
doesn't always correlate to spiritual decline? Billy Graham? the
Pope? I suspect that names closer to home -- even ourselves -- will
be more effective, and that in any case much patience and careful
living/modeling will be required since no magic pill quickly undoes
decades of convictional momentum. Nor do we necessarily want it to.

--merv

My aunt gave me a walkie-talkie for my birthday. She says if I'm good,
she'll give me the other one next year. --Steven Wright (or Rod Schmidt?)

Ted Davis wrote:

>>>>Mervin Bitikofer <mrb22667@kansas.net> 05/23/06 7:53 AM >>>writes:
>>>>
>>>>
>
>In the spirit of Iain's gentle exhortation, I wish to add a challenge &
>seek advice. Probably, most of you (by your own good design, no doubt)
>are in career positions which limit your contacts with YEC advocates to
>non-professional settings. I.e. you can safely be aggressive about
>'eradicating' young-earth heresies from Christendom, and in fact, to the
>extent that YEC topics ever come up - you would be required to respond
>that way under the pressure of jeopardizing your career path. (NO - I
>am NOT imputing false motives to any of you here - I am NOT suggesting
>that the only reason you think as you do is for career advance; I agree
>fully that your career would be rightly jeopardized by a YE position on
>the sound grounds that scientific evidence is clearly against it.) <big
>SNIP>
>
>****
>
>Ted comments:
>Mervin, my own situation is somewhat in between yours and mine. I
>understand yours, as I was once a science teacher at a fundamentalist
>Christian high school. At that time, in the mid to late 70s, YECism had not
>yet made as many inroads into the church. Nevertheless my dept chair (an
>alum of Bob Jones Univ) was a staunch YEC. My headmaster, however, was not
>a YEC--he had a Westminster Seminary degree and took the concordist approach
>that was popular in conservative reformed circles. I moved in the same
>circles and took the same approach. I started a month-long unit on science
>and the Bible in my 11th grade chemistry course, and followed Bernard Ramm's
>approach and attitude to a great extent. I liked "progressive creation" as
>he called it (he did not invent that term, although many seem to assume that
>he did), and taught that to my students as the best option.
>
>Whether I could do that now, at a similar school, is unclear to me. Since
>the 1980s creationism has really advanced, partly I think owing to the
>"culture wars" and partly b/c they produce such slick publications and web
>materials--which pander to a certain mindset and audience that includes
>virtually no people with real scientific educations. Fighting against this
>is not easy, as we all know.
>
>My present situation places me in classes populated by students who are at
>least heavily (perhaps as much as half the group) followers of the YEC view.
> Many who hold that view hold it quite loosely; they have frankly never
>heard anything good about any other possibility. The typical YEC strategy
>paints anything to the left of Ken Ham as theologically heretical and
>religiously dangerous. I call this the "demonization" of evolution, and
>it's been going on for a long time--even Bryan, who was an OEC not a YEC,
>had this attitude, and Henry Morris was actually far worse in this respect.
>My insitution did not promote me on the basis of my opposition to YEC,
>however, and if I were a YEC I would still be teaching here (I hope, and I
>think). I am a rare bird in this forest: I have genuine intellectual and
>academic freedom to say and teach whatever I think on this issue. My
>approach is to show students, as sympathetically as I can, multiple models
>-- including the YEC model, which I do not criticize too strongly b/c I want
>students to do their own thinking, not to mimic mine. "I am not interested
>in cloning myself," I tell my students repeatedly. "I am interested in
>seeing you do your own thinking on this issue." If my students come to YEC
>conclusions, and some of them do at the end of the course, I'm fine with
>that as long as they understand some of the problems with that position.
>Likewise for forms of OEC, TE, and ID. I will be speaking about
>this--teaching origins--at the ASA meeting this summer.
>
>If there is any way you can do something similar, I urge you to do so. My
>approach is very effective at getting students to think, not to memorize or
>parrot but to think. And some very thoughtful students decide that YEC
>still makes the most sense to them, for reasons they articulate clearly and
>fairly. Others think it's time to move on to something more in tune with
>science, and if they can also articulate their reasons for this I am happy.
>I'm an educator, not an evangelist for my opinions. I do "profess" where
>appropriate, but I don't mold my course around my opinions and don't want
>students to follow me blindly any more than they would follow Ham or Morris
>blindly.
>
>I wish you well,
>
>Ted
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Received on Tue May 23 19:27:34 2006