Re: [asa] EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed

This is a reply to one on the list who wrote to me privately. I've removed
the private message, but felt it might be worthwhile to post my response
publicly, to clarify a point or two.
 
 
I'm not at all clear whether you understand my position, either on the
subject of this movie or in general. Especially since in general, I'm still
working to completely figure it out myself.
 
What I meant by the "warfare model" was, in looking at the trailer of that
movie, it repeatedly talked about religious views vs. Darwinism (and by
implication, the science of evolution). Now I am admittedly not comfortable
with conceding that evolutionary history as currently understood by
biologists is correct, but I have had to admit that on the scientific level
there are more than a few smoking guns that would lead one to conclude so.
And having looked at this from many different angles, through eyes of many
different Christian scientists on the ASA list, for instance, I have to say
it's not just as simple as an "either-or" acceptance of theism or science.
 
As to your discussion of deism, I'm not sure where that came from. I
certainly don't argue for deism. If anything, I'm leaning toward the idea
that regardless of the "apparent" natural history of the universe, God is in
all and through all things, and "by him all things consist" (Col 1:17).
This is not to say that "nature is God" (which, as I understand it, is
deistic). Rather, God not only makes his appearance within nature to openly
perform what we would call miracles, but He is actively involved in all of
creation, accomplishing His ultimate purposes in it from Day 1. Thus, we
can say that God "sends the rain", even though we can also describe
humidity, warm and cold fronts, and the condensation of water as the source
of rain in a temporal sense. In the end, it is an incarnational model --
God joined actively with nature, accomplishing His will through it, not just
sitting on a throne in heaven and coming by once in a while for a visit.
This is perhaps the ultimate in theism, not deism at all, because it doesn't
deny God's active involvement, but embraces it through and through
(including the miraculous).
 
Back to the video, I don't think I wrote it publicly, but I do believe there
is open hostility against Christianity in some quarters in science. If this
video can help to highlight those things, in a way that will cause the
academic and scientific community to act more respectfully of philosophical
and religious beliefs of Christian scientists, then it may accomplish some
good. But I'm not too hopeful. If it simply promotes more bad science,
with the imbalanced tone and hype of a Michael Moore conspiracy theory, then
it will be more heat than light, and may in the end be detrimental to the
work of honest Christians in science. That was basically my point.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jon Tandy
 

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Received on Wed Jan 23 09:13:24 2008