Re: [asa] historical versus experimental sciences

Cameron, you ask:

Just tell me whether intelligence has planned or guided the evolutionary process, and if so, how.

Yes. God ordains and sustains evolution. There is no such thing as a "random" or "natural" process to God.

And if you *don't* think intelligence had anything to do with the process, tell me why the implications of that aren't "disturbing" to a professor at a conservative Christian university (where, if I understand correctly, you teach).

See my reply above. That God ordains and sustains all things is not disturbing to me in the least, of course.

I didn't "relish" pointing out the fusion issue. It gives insight into the mechanism of our creation. As such it is no less wonderful than discovering how God ordained and sustained other aspects of the physical world to bring us into being. If that doesn't sit well with some, well, they should take it up with the Creator. :)

Let me ask you a question or two, since it seems we're both up at this late hour:

Mendelian genetics has at its core Mendel's Laws, one of which is that chromosomes assort independently of one another during meiosis. Another is that gamete fusion is random. In all my years of teaching genetics here (or at a secular university prior), I have never had a student balk at this randomness of chromosome assortment or gamete fusion. Yet chromosome assortment is vitally important to who we are as humans - I would be someone else if things had assorted differently during the gametogenesis events that lead to me. For a child conceived of two parents heterozygous for a recessive disease such as cystic fibrosis, these issues are vital.

In short, the core, overarching principle of Mendelism is randomness. Yet Christians have never (seemingly) had a problem with this theologically (to my knowledge).

Do agree with Mendel that you are the result of a series of genetic chance events? Do you think intelligence was involved, or merely the blind mechanics of meiosis? Have you ever advocated that Mendelists should qualify their views on the randomness of gamete fusion and chromosome segregation if they wish to teach at a conservative Christian university? If not, why single out evolutionary biology for such treatment?

Best,

Dennis

On 30/07/09 12:15 AM, "Cameron Wybrow" <wybrowc@sympatico.ca> wrote:

Just tell me whether intelligence has planned or guided the evolutionary process, and if so, how. And if you *don't* think intelligence had anything to do with the process, tell me why the implications of that aren't "disturbing" to a professor at a conservative Christian university (where, if I understand correctly, you teach).

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Received on Thu Jul 30 03:45:21 2009