Re: [asa] Coulter, and science

As a Christian and a conservative I am disturbed that an influential figure
like Ann Coulter would take a swipe at evolution while attacking liberalism. I
had already resolved not to read the book, because I didn't see what useful
purpose smearing liberals wwith the Godless label would serve. Some (perhaps
many) are secular in their views. The book will not affect them,except to
perhaps give them aa laugh. Some liberals are Christian believers (I know some,
and although we have many disagreements, their Christianity is not in doubt).
These people will be severely insulted. Conservative Christians who read the
book may just nod and say yes, yes. So the net effect is negative. _Then_ I
heard about the two chapters she devoted to slamming evolution and decided a
response was necessary. I emailed Ann Coulter (you can email her through
townhall.com) andd here is the content of the email:

I have not yet read "Godless," but as a fellow conservative and an evangelical
Christian, I am disturbed that you apparently devoted two chapters to debunking
evolution. I believe you can show that the religion of many liberals is godless
without bringing evolution into the picture. But what disturbs me is that there
are a good many Christians with scientific credentials who disagree with your
views on evolution. Don't misunderstand me. I believe that God created the
earth and the heavens and everything in them. But there's good evidence to
establish that he developed later life forms from earlier ones. Evolution as an
undirected, random process should be opposed by Christians. However, evolution
under God's sovereignty is quite another thing. I understand you consulted with
Mike Behe, Bill Dembski and David Berlinski. I know Mike and I've read some of
Bill Dembski's writings. They are serious thinkers and you were justified in
consulting them. But I wish you had also consulted the American Scientific
Affiliation, an organization of Christians working in the sciences (Bill
Dembski is listed as a member in my 2000-2003 directory). ASA members have a
wide variety of views, ranging from young earth creationism to acceptance of
evolution. Some of their discussions are available on their website:
www.asa3.org.

The dangers of debunking evolution in a book criticising liberals are that some
people with scientific training will associate conservatives with antievolution
rhetoric and thereby reject conservatism; that Christians will be misled to
believe that there is no scientific basis for evolution; and that bad science
is propagated.

--- Pim van Meurs <pimvanmeurs@yahoo.com> wrote:

> As a Christian I am significantly concerned by
> Coulter's latest book. Although she claims that her
> chapters on evolution were reviewed by ID proponents
> such as Dembski, the chapters seem to contain
> countless errors.
>
> On Media Matters, Robert Savillo has exposed many of
> the countless problems with Coulter's claims.
>
> I hope that ASA can work with other scientists to help
> rectify the damaging contributions of Coulter to
> science and Christian faith.
>
>
> http://mediamatters.org/items/200607070010
>
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
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>

Bill Hamilton
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
248.652.4148 (home) 248.821.8156 (mobile)
"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31

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Received on Sun Jul 9 19:05:26 2006