Re: [asa] Deism, Apologetics, and Neglected Arguments

This issue gets us back to the question of just what ID (or YEC or any
specific manifestation of TE, etc.) is trying to do.

A Christian apologetic must be Christ-centered; the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus and their implications being the essential
points. Of course, it is not essential that everything be covered all
at once. E.g., promotion of mere theism may be a useful step in the
process, but from a Christian viewpoint it is merely one step in the
right direction, and not the essential step.

Scientific study of the physical world can, at most, provide some
support for a mere theism. It does not tell us who is responsible for
what we see. In practice, it's not even very good at supporting mere
theism, both because of human inclination to idolatry (cf. Rom. 1),
the most popular form of which is self-worship rather than a genuine
heathen theism, and because there's no obvious way to decide whether
to emphasize a positive or negative spin. Darwin thought an ichneumon
wasp parasitizing a caterpillar was rather awful, but a farmer might
be quite pleased with the pest control, an ecologist might note the
role of the parasitism in the overall balance of the ecosystem, and an
ethicist might raise the question of whether caterpillars really
suffer. After all, Darwin himself doesn't seem to have particular
remorse about collecting lots of animal specimens.

Creation science and ID often market themselves as Christian
apologetics, yet they are creationism- or "design"- centered rather
than Christ-centered and not infrequently promote other religions
instead. I don't offhand know of an equivalent TE example, but
there's nothing inherent in TE to prevent a similar problem, except
possibly the perspective that comes from opposition form two sides.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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