Their statement on the Bible:
Within the community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and disagreement, including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible – the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark – convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts. [Emphasis added.]And their statement on science:
We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth. [Emphasis added.]Beautiful. Thanks.
The letter is signed by a large number of American clergy (here's the list by state) - far larger than the list of (any kind of) Ph.D.s who doubt evolution. In California alone there are more Clergy on this list than there were on the list of evolution deniers in August 2008. Also, see Project Steve.
We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth.
ReplyDeleteThat's progress, but I would prefer they said something like this:
We ask that science remain science and that religion be eradicated, because science is reality, and religion is bullshit.
Bob, welcome.
ReplyDeleteYou know that I agree with you, but I see no reason to even contemplate clergy signing such a statement. Fruitless beyond the sane.
There are two battles, here. One against creationism, and a bigger one against religion. They aren't the same, and the question is whether we should settle for getting rid of creationism (without otherwise being accomodationists)?