Re: [asa] E.O. Wilson "Baptist No More"

But his [early] experience in his Southern Baptist Church was his
specific frame of reference - the default "best" in the absence of any
"figuring". "Figuring" of this sort seems to be something that is more
likely to happen much later in life than in the college years.

He had started with a particular denominational group, and concluded
from that experience (while still in his youth) that the essentials had
no further (or insufficient) relevance for him. It probably did not
particularly matter what packaging of those same fundamentals might be
presented in other expressions of the same fundamentals [particularly at
his age]. He had proceeded from the specific to the more general. If his
momentum along that trajectory was sufficient, the idea of retrograde
explorations into other specifics would appear to have little value.
There is something Newtonian at work here in that unless there is a
compelling force to do so, it would be unnatural to turn back to delve
into other forms of Baptist life, or (apparently, from his perspective)
into other more different expressions of Christianity. I think that such
a turn is a little more "natural" in the later, perhaps more reflective
and retrospective years of life.

As it was, it would have probably taken some sort of intervention or
chance encounter with an idea or person who might - at a receptive time
- open his eyes to the larger landscape of Christianity (or perhaps even
a more general view of spiritual walks). That is a low probability
proposition. So don't fault him too greatly - or permanently! - in the
absence of some understanding of the particular forces (and their
associated intensities) that propelled him away from the gravitational
pull of his obviously meaningful early church experiences. There is
shared ownership of the dynamic, but I would argue that the greater
responsibility ultimately lies with the more mature entity.

Based on my experience in a number of (southwestern) Southern Baptist
churches, he would have experienced a strong suggestion of the "one way"
equating to "our way", with the implied alternative of an inferior (or
indeed, no) way. As I experienced it, any treatment of other Baptist
denominational variants or other denominations was at best dismissive,
and in most cases stronger than that. Nowhere would I expect one to hear
any suggestion of the idea that one might profitably explore the
theologies of other faith groups (gracious me!).

Only a trusted mentor, or an internal strong and/or unusually mature
interest in theologies (and an accompanying desire to explore those
variants) would have the power to overcome those early impressions and -
even temporarily - reverse the direction of his exit trajectory.

...or so it seemeth to me.

JimA [Friend of ASA]

Dehler, Bernie wrote:

> I'm sure he knew there were other kinds of Christians, but as I wrote,
> he may have figured that the Baptists were the best form of
> Christianity. Therefore, if they don't accept evolution, why look
> more? There's no bother in finding out what other "Christians" believe
> if you don't appreciate their theology (such as Catholic, Mormon, JW,
> Lutheran, Quaker, etc.). In other words, he may have thought the best
> religion that Jesus had to offer was the Baptist denomination... so if
> not that, then nothing.
>
>
>
> ...Bernie
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From: David Opderbeck [mailto:dopderbeck@gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 2:22 PM
> To: Dehler, Bernie
> Cc: _American Sci Affil
> Subject: Re: [asa] E.O. Wilson "Baptist No More"
>
>
>
> Bernie said: Wilson probably figured the Baptists were good
> representatives of the best form of Christianity, and the preachers
> (general consensus) were adamant about evolution being evil and
> against God... so why look further?
>
> Do you really think that an exceptionally intelligent person such as
> Wilson was incapable of learning that there are kinds of Christians
> other than fundamentialist Baptists? I'm not so smart as Wilson, but
> I looked further, because I had met Jesus.
>
> On Nov 27, 2007 5:10 PM, Dehler, Bernie <bernie.dehler@intel.com
> <mailto:bernie.dehler@intel.com>> wrote:
>
> ". But what if Wilson's response had been to continually ask God to
> help him better understand the truth. "
>
>
>
> Wilson probably figured the Baptists were good representatives of the
> best form of Christianity, and the preachers (general consensus) were
> adamant about evolution being evil and against God... so why look
> further?
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu <mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu>
> [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu
> <mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu>] On Behalf Of David Opderbeck
> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 10:25 AM
>
>
> To: John Walley
> Cc: _American Sci Affil
>
> Subject: Re: [asa] E.O. Wilson "Baptist No More"
>
>
>
> I suppose the point here is that the Church was at fault for not
> giving Wilson other options. Perhaps there is a fair point there
> given the particulars of Wilson's upbringing. But what if Wilson's
> response had been to continually ask God to help him better understand
> the truth. Would Wilson then have found organizations like the ASA
> that existed at the time? Would he have found friends and mentors to
> help him work through the questions everyone faces when they grow out
> of a childish fundamentalism into a more mature faith? Would he have
> felt freer to question some aspects of "evolution" as a metanarrative
> while at the same time broadening his understanding of theology and
> scripture? In short, do we really have to buy hook, line and sinker
> the story: "Church: bad; Wilson: innocent?"
>
> On Nov 26, 2007 11:01 PM, John Walley <john_walley@yahoo.com
> <mailto:john_walley@yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
> Here is a relevant and chilling quote from E.O. Wilson from "Consilience".
>
>
>
> http://www.cnn.com/books/beginnings/9805/consilience/index.html
> <http://www.cnn.com/books/beginnings/9805/consilience/index.html>
>
>
>
> On a far more modest scale, I found it a wonderful feeling not just to
> taste the unification metaphysics but also to be released from the
> confinement of fundamentalist religion. I had been raised a Southern
> Baptist, laid backward under the water on the sturdy arm of a pastor,
> been born again. I knew the healing power of redemption. Faith, hope,
> and charity were in my bones, and with millions of others I knew that
> my savior Jesus Christ would grant me eternal life. More pious than
> the average teenager, I read the Bible cover to cover, twice. But now
> at college, steroid-driven into moods of adolescent rebellion, I chose
> to doubt. I found it hard to accept that our deepest beliefs were set
> in stone by agricultural societies of the eastern Mediterranean more
> than two thousand years ago. I suffered cognitive dissonance between
> the cheerfully reported genocidal wars of these people and Christian
> civilization in 1940s Alabama. It seemed to me that the Book of
> Revelation might be black magic hallucinated by an ancient primitive.
> And I thought, surely a loving personal God, if He is paying
> attention, will not abandon those who reject the literal
> interpretation of the biblical cosmology. It is only fair to award
> points for intellectual courage. Better damned with Plato and Bacon,
> Shelley said, than go to heaven with Paley and Malthus. But most of
> all, Baptist theology made no provision for evolution. The biblical
> authors had missed the most important revelation of all! Could it be
> that they were not really privy to the thoughts of God? Might the
> pastors of my childhood, good and loving men though they were, be
> mistaken? It was all too much, and freedom was ever so sweet. I
> drifted away from the church, not definitively agnostic or atheistic,
> just Baptist no more.
>
>
>
>
>

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Received on Tue Nov 27 19:13:32 2007