Re: [asa] Is you doctor an evolutionist - if so, what then?

Hi Pim,

Your below arrived after I composed my response to Iain and I think that
response serves dual purpose in answering some of your remarks below.

The only clarification I think need be made is that I am not arguing
that evolution entails an abandonment of reason and morality - indeed,
that's actually not quite germane to the issue.

What is germane is this: one could never be sure that given the
assumption of evolution, one might take medical ethics in other than the
traditional direction.

I will concede your point regarding "the will of God" - just as I
concede Jim Armstrong's point regarding YEC's. Neither concession hurts
my case as I am not arguing that theists are more moral than atheists. I
am simply musing (and please note that term) that evolutionary theory
MIGHT (and note that term) have a detrimental effect on medical ethics.

Indeed, your mention of a potential confusion of "natural" and "good" is
helpful. My point is precisely that such a confusion can occur. And, if
you think me silly enough to make it, then you should allow that your
doctor might make the same mistake.

Blessings,
Murray Hogg
Pastor, East Camberwell Baptist Church, Victoria, Australia
Post-Grad Student (MTh), Australian College of Theology

PvM wrote:
> This is just silly. Believing in the fact of evolution does not mean
> that one should abandon reason and morality. I find such arguments
> foolish at best, especially when they come from fellow Christians.
>
> Of course, in some countries, not by choice but by circumstance,
> babies and children succumb to illness, malnourishment. Do we see a
> stronger humanity arise in these areas?
>
> Let me change the issue slightly: A doctor who believes in religion,
> let's say Christianity, should leave the decisions of life and death
> to God and thus sickness is treated as the 'will of God' not to be
> interfered with.
>
> In fact, are there not some groups of Christians who refuse medical
> intervention?
>
> I think the fallacy behind Murray's musings is a confusion of natural and good.
>
> Pim
>
>
> On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 3:40 PM, Murray Hogg <muzhogg@netspace.net.au> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> This isn't a response to anybody in particular, but just a musing...
>>
>> It strikes me that a doctor who truly believes in evolution might actually
>> process the question of treatment of the sick in a very different way than
>> has traditionally occurred.
>>
>> In essence, I'm thinking that a truly evolutionary approach to medicine
>> might be simply to allow all illnesses to take their course and,
>> consequently, improve the human species by eliminating the unfit through
>> inaction.
>>
>> Indeed, I can identify at least one instance in which medical intervention
>> has had the apparent result of decreased fitness of particular human
>> individuals;
>>
>> A recent US study has suggested that daughters born to women who delayed
>> childbearing and who eventually did so with the assistance of fertility
>> treatment themselves had difficulties in conceiving;
>>
>> http://preview.tinyurl.com/4kxbgh
>>
>> So, it appears, that in this instance medical intervention has actually
>> compounded a problem (infertility) which might have been avoided by doing
>> nothing and allowing natural selection to do its thing.
>>
>> I need not point out that there have been doctors in recent history who have
>> taken such logic to an extreme - so it's not merely a hypothetical issue, I
>> think.
>>
>> One wonders, in consequence, whether one ought to ask a further question of
>> a doctor who espouses evolution, viz: "and what follows from this belief?"
>> If the answer is that human persons are mere contingent outcomes of
>> evolution (i.e. "accidents") then I would wonder why this person is even
>> motivated to practice medicine in the first place.
>>
>> Blessings,
>> Murray Hogg
>> Pastor, East Camberwell Baptist Church, Victoria, Australia
>> Post-Grad Student (MTh), Australian College of Theology
>>
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Received on Sun Jun 1 15:08:52 2008