Re: [asa] Polkinghorne quote on time required for the evolutionary process

> The central conclusion I have observed is that we should resist assertions
> of randomness as "undirected and purposeless". That is a statement of
> faith, not a statement of fact. All we know is that the process appears to
> be random with the "tools" we have. That may be all we ever know, but it
> proves nothing. Moreover, we should (indeed must) resist scientism. We
> should resist the claim that matter is all that is and that science can
> explain everything. Maybe it can, but that is certainly not a known fact. It
> is not the "randomness" that is wrong, it is the use of this randomness to
> prop up one's faith that we should resist. Such dogma does stifle asking
> questions. When this is done as though it were the big stamp of "science
> proves", it is a distortion of science.

Attention to the exact definitions of randomness, undirected, etc. is
important. On the one hand, as Christians we agree that natural
forces do not have purpose, direction, etc. of their own, in contrast
to a polytheistic view. It is true that biology cannot detect purpose
in the course of evolution, but this is because biology cannot detect
purpose, and so this does not tell us about any ultimate purpose
behind the events.

Another area of confusion here is between mathematically probabilistic
events (like casting lots), humanly unpredictable events (like
long-term weather or the course of history), and unguided events.
Detection of one of the first two does not prove that something is
unguided, contrary to both the attempts of atheists to use such as
evidence against God and the attempts of believers to deny such as
evidence of atheism. At the ultimate level, everything is guided by
God, but at other levels things may be correctly describable as
unguided.

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