[asa] Response to Baylor meeting

In a recent note to faculty at Christian Colleges and Universities, I provided the link to the talks at the Baylor meeting. One professor responded with a note to say he found the talks very sad and was disappointed. I started a dialog with him and have had some interesting exchanges. I'd like to share part of his note and perhaps gather some feedback from several of you that I can collect and forward to him. I had asked him what kind of discussion he would have found interesting. Here's part of his feedback:

"When I saw the conference, I was impressed at the availability of the slides and audio and dug into slides of presentations that looked interesting.
The first one I looked at carefully was on "Worldview" - and was dismayed to find it was just another convoluted twist of a way to justify believing in the faith of evolution while still maintaining some faith in Christ. This seemed to follow the lines of the complex machinations in the Christian Scholar's Review. Seeing the first slides, I thought this one would be a breath of fresh air vs. those approaches, but, alas, just another twist on the same story.

Along these lines, discussions of science and faith which would be interesting, even from a group of committed evolutionists, might be:

-Philosophically, why do I want so much to believe in evolution?

-Discussion of dealing with evolution as a constructive mechanism vs.our observation of environmental degradation with time(even without man), species extinction etc.

-An answer to the question of why evolutionists are concerned with extinction when this is a vital part of the process. How does a Christian reconcile this necessity of species destruction with the stewardship mandate of man?

-As a scientist, how has a belief in evolution guided my understanding and research in profitable ways? For example, how using the theory has lead to examination of fruitful lines of research, or predicted results that were confirmed by experimentation, results that one who did not believe in evolution would never have thought to pursue. The only answer I have heard to this question, never stated, but implied, is that believing in evolution gains "respectability"."

I may share some of the other comments later.

I'd particularly like to solicit your comments on the last one.

Randy

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Received on Sun Aug 30 16:55:57 2009