Re: [asa] anti-evolutionism and deism

>My youth pastor responded by saying, "well there are some things that
God lets happen," stating that God's ways of working have changed to
the less-miraculous. I responded by pointing out that this doesn't
mean that God is acting any less, only differently. The syllabus
implied that God was acting less today (or at least that is the
unavoidable philosophical conclusion). I pointed out the many
instances where the Bible says God did something, yet we accept a
natural explanation (e.g., meteorology, embryology). <

Another problem with this approach is that it is inconsistent-"It's OK
to claim that God works through means today, but covert atheism to say
he worked through means in the process of creation."

> Here's also something I read recently by Wolfhart Pannenberg, which might be
> helpful (from "Towards a Theology of Nature, Essays on Science and Faith"
> ed. by Ted Peters ( http://tinyurl.com/2a4kau)):
> If the God of the Bible is the creator of the universe, then it is not possible to understand fully or even appropriately the proceses of nature without any reference to that God...To be sure, the reality of God is not incompatible with some form of abstract knowledge concerning the regularities of natural processes, a knowledge that abstracts from the concreteness of physical reality and therefore may be able also to abstract from the presence of God in his creation. But such abstract knowledge of regularities should not claim full and exclusive competence regarding the explanation of nature; if it does so, the reality of God is denied by impliciation. The so-called methodological atheism of modern science is far from pure innocence. It is a highly ambiguous phenomenon. <

The key problem here is what is being claimed for science. If we
assume to start with that science is merely the abstract knowledge
concerning the regularities of natural processes, then designations
like "methodological atheism" are seen as a muddling of categories.
The problem lies in the claim of full and exclusive competence, a
claim made both from Dawkinsian and ID directions.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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