Re: [asa] Random and natural vs intelligence

A lot of people have already replied to this. If I may add a few points:
    1) You will not in fact find "excludes intelligence" in a dictionary definition of "random" (or at least those I know of). The root words have connotations of force
        or violence." Gage's claim is false & shows that he has bought into the assertions of Dawkins et al. Similarly for "natural."
    1) Evolution cannot not completely random because, among other things, it is constrained by physical properties which obey certain laws. It involves an interplay
        of chance & regularity, as Peacocke, e.g., emphasized.
    2) The claim that evolution has in fact been "random" in a pure statistical sense could be verified only by charting all the changes that have taken
        place in the evolution leading to H. sapiens (as an example) over 3.5 Gyr - which has of course never been done nor will be.
    3) It's quite consistent with what we know of the mechanisms of evolution to think that God acts at the quantum level to cause mutations which "steer" the
        evolutionary process, as Bob Russell has suggested.

But perhaps the most significant thing to note here is the way people like Gage & Strobel - & some on this list - continue to grasp at any reason they can find to reject evolution.

Francis Collins is a good scientist & his Christian witness has helped to weaken the "warfare of science & religion" perception for the public, but he is not a theologian & it doesn't seem that he has gotten deeply into the modern science-theology dialogue & its discussions of divine action, such as the contributions of Peacocke & Russell that I noted. For all his strong points, he should not be regarded as presenting the most profound Christian offering in the dialogue.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Randy Isaac
  To: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 9:26 PM
  Subject: [asa] Random and natural vs intelligence

  The November 2007 issue of Christianity Today includes a book review titled "Deconstructing Dawkins" in which author Logan Paul Gage critiques McGrath's book "The Dawkins Delusion." I don't think it's available online yet so let me just type in two paragraphs of the article which I think deserve discussion. My point is not to agree or disagree but to say that this is an articulation of a critical point of difference within our communities that needs to be clearly addressed.

  "While theists can have a variety of legitimate views on life's evolution, surely they must maintain that the process involves intelligence. So the question is: Can an intelligent being use random mutations and natural selection to create? No. This is not a theological problem; it is a logical one. The words random and natural are meant to exclude intelligence. If God guides which mutations happen, the mutations are not random; if God chooses which organisms survive so as to guide life's evolution, the selection is intelligent rather than natural.

  "Theistic Darwinists maintain that God was "intimately involved" in creation, to use Francis Collins's words. But they also think life developed via genuinely random mutations and genuinely natural selection. Yet they never explain what God is doing in this process. Perhaps there is still room for him to start the whole thing off, but this abandons theism for deism."

  This is essentially the same argument that Lee Strobel used on the radio a few weeks ago when he firmly but respectfully rebuked Francis Collins. Evolution is inherently random and without guidance and is therefore mutually exclusive with divine guidance, he said.

  Randy

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Received on Tue Nov 6 07:38:25 2007