Re: [asa] The term Darwinism

Ted,

Thanks for your comments and the exhortation. I'm very much looking forward to more deeply integrating myself into the ASA this summer as I attend my first annual meeting and put faces on a lot of names. I'm sure that the experience will help me get a better sense of the ASA in its diversity.

The idea of a proposal to draft something similar in style and intended audience as TSCC but with a fair treatment of recent evidence for common descent is intriguing. Do you think there would be the will within the ASA for such a publication?

Perhaps we can chat more at Baylor later this month.

Best,

Dennis

On 06/07/09 1:11 PM, "Ted Davis" <TDavis@messiah.edu> wrote:

Dennis,

I understand your point about our effectiveness on an issue such as this.

If we really were comparable to (say) the AAAS, or even TDI, we would have
a much larger budget and the ability to issue statements on a variety of
issues and also to update them periodically. We aren't, and we don't.
Perhaps in a generation or two, ASA will become something like that, but
presently we are who we are--an organization that fosters fellowship and
serious conversation about science and Christian faith. Terry's point about
our official statement of faith being our only official statement is
accurate.

As for what the future might hold for ASA, relative to the kinds of things
that can be influential, Council has authorized Randy to involve us in some
initiatives that may turn out to have more impact than we could have alone.
Randy has mentioned a couple of these in recent newsletters to members.
More importantly, Dennis, and to the point: the future of the ASA is in the
hands of our members, esp our younger ones such as yourself. If you and
others want to push initiatives that might have larger impact, I encourage
you to dream dreams and to do some of the hard work to make them happen.
Many years ago I served on a couple of committees for the History of Science
Society, and I remember being told then that the HSS was heavily dependent
on the energy and ideas of its members. That is so true, and no less so for
the ASA. If you think that updating that pamphlet would be worth spending a
lot of time on it yourself, and the time of some others, I as ASA president
invite you to send me a proposal. Council does have some designated funds
that could perhaps be applied to something like that, if we were given a
clear and helpful project to spend them on.

Ted

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Received on Mon Jul 6 16:51:07 2009