September 8, 1999
EDITORIAL:
What can we say about creation?
___The Kansas Board of Education has kicked open one of the most fragile of Pandora's Boxes, and the vicious science-vs.-religion hornets are buzzing about, stinging everyone in the vicinity.
___The board voted 6-4 to remove questions regarding evolution from standardized state tests. The vote frees school districts from teaching evolution, since their children won't be required to master the subject matter in order to compare favorably with other Kansas children. More pointedly, it scores a victory for advocates of creationism.
___This battle has engaged science and religion for most of the 20th century. It propelled the Scopes "monkey" trial in Dayton, Tenn., in the 1920s. It provided much of the impetus for both the 1925 and 1963 Baptist Faith & Message statements. In recent years, it has spawned cottage industries among evolutionary scientists, scientific creationists, attorneys and agitators against public education.
___You're familiar with the issue. Here's a very, very over-simplified statement of the case: The most extreme evolutionists insist humanity evolved from the most basic forms of living matter. All of this has been random and coincidental. God is not part of the process, because God doesn't exist. The strictest creationists contend the first chapters of the book of Genesis provide a literal, scientific account of creation. God made everything as it is. The world is only a few thousand years old, and God didn't need evolution to do his work.
___Both theories are very complex, and advocates on both sides have differentiated a broad spectrum of views and theories. Hundreds of thousands of pages have been written to explain and support the various theories and propositions.
___All this is very complex, to be sure. But at the heart of the matter is a simple, central, common-denominator truth: Both sides have reached beyond their grasp. Consequently, both sides have crossed the line into the field or domain of the other. And both sides have not served their adherents well.
___Many evolutionists have embraced their position with religious zeal. Science is based on empirical--provable--evidence. Science places its trust in the material, the tangible. Evolutionists believe science provides answers to the questions of the universe. And, regarding development of the species, they affirm a process that weeds out the weak, multiplies the strong and needs no outside Source.
___Many creationists have propounded their position with scientific certainty. Although they denigrate scientists as a group, they embrace certain forms of scientific inquiry to bolster their position.
___Just as many creationists cross into the realm of science, relying on the certainty of scientific assertions to support their claims, the evolutionists cross into the realm of religion, placing faith in a process and making "leaps of faith" across chasms their process cannot cover.
___This, of course, presents a problem. Considered consistently, science and religion ask different questions and seek different answers. Religion asks, "Who? What? Why?" Science also asks, "What?" but then considers, "How?" If asked humbly and respectfully, these questions need not be mutually exclusive. A scientist need not be an atheist to be empirical. And a believer need not be a flat-earth Luddite to be faithful.
___Humility and respect--both in short supply these contentious days--provide the key to resolution. Yearnings, aspirations and conclusions of each can enrich the other.
___Philosopher/author Huston Smith suggests science teachers distribute the following statement to their students: "This is a course in science, and as your instructor, it is my responsibility to teach you what science has empirically discovered about the mechanisms by which life emerged, and has developed, on this planet. We scientists believe we know an important part of that story, and I will do my best to inform you of it. However, there is so much that we do not know about the story that there is plenty of room for you to fill in the gaps with your own philosophic or religious convictions."
___Likewise, Christians can admit, "There is so much that we do not know" about the particulars of how the world came to be as it is. Yet beyond all this, we know without a doubt Who created it, and why. The first five words of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis are the most important: "In the beginning, God created ..."
___ --Marv Knox
Email the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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