Science and Religion Today » TheoEvo

Is President Bush a Theistic Evolutionist?

Heather Wax — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:22:00 +0000

In an interview on ABC’s Nightline last night, co-anchor Cynthia McFadden asked President George W. Bush about evolution and creation:

Cynthia McFadden: So you can read the Bible and not take it literally. I mean you can—it’s not inconsistent to love the Bible and believe in evolution, say.
George W. Bush: Yeah, I mean, I do. I mean, evolution is an interesting subject. I happen to believe that evolution doesn’t fully explain the mystery of life and …

McFadden: But do you believe in it?
Bush: That God created the world, I do, yeah.

McFadden: But what about …
Bush: Well, I think you can have both. I think evolution can—you’re getting me way out of my lane here. I’m just a simple president. But it’s, I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an almighty and I don’t think it’s incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution.

Stephen Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and a devout Christian, expressed a similar view in an in-depth profile published in The Philadelphia Inquirer this past weekend. Asked about evolution and creation, Johnson, who majored in biology at Taylor University, an evangelical college, said, “It’s not a clean-cut division. If you have studied at all creationism vs. evolution, there’s theistic or God-controlled evolution and there’s variations on all those themes.” —Heather Wax

Watch a Christian Physicist "Save Darwin"

Heather Wax — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:03:00 +0000

Check out the clips of Michael Shermer interviewing Karl Giberson (editor-at-large of Science & Religion Today) at The Harvard Club in New York last week. The two talk about Giberson’s new book Saving Darwin, whether Christianity is compatible with evolution, and the spiritual implications of science. While Giberson is a physicist and a firm believer in evolution, “I think it’s very important to acknowledge that there are loads and loads of things that are eminently worth believing that are not the conclusions of scientific arguments,” he says. “If the only thing that we’re going to be allowed to believe is something that comes at the end of a scientific argument, then we’re going to have a very emaciated worldview.”

Listen to This

Heather Wax — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:35:00 +0000

Over on his blog, Brain Thompson has posted a podcast of his interview with Karl Giberson, author of the new book Saving Darwin. The two of them discuss “why Darwin has become the Christian right’s new Satan, how science can harmonize with religious belief, and whether Darwin’s or Lincoln’s beard would be the bigger handicap in a fistfight.” Enjoy.

Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution

Heather Wax — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:45:00 +0000

Our friend Steve Martin has just finished a neat guest-post series on “Evangelicals, Evolution, and Academics” over on his blog, and he’s posted an index to the series for easy searching. Check out what some of the biggest names in the field have to say about the topic.

Dispatch From the Saving Darwin Tour

Heather Wax — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:47:00 +0000

FROM KARL GIBERSON: Salon.com made its interview with me the top story this morning, which has done wonders for the Amazon ranking of my book, Saving Darwin. There are already more than a hundred letters in response, some of them pretty vicious. I guess some people don’t want Darwin saved, at least not by a Christian.

Denis Lamoureux Is an Evolutionary Creationist

Heather Wax — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:25:00 +0000

We got a note last night from Denis Lamoureux, an assistant professor of science and religion at St. Joseph’s College at the University of Alberta and the biggest name in this field up in Canada. Lamoureux is the author of the upcoming book Evolutionary Creation, and he responds to Ken Miller’s opinion on the term “theistic evolution” and shares a bit about his own view of origins:

“I certainly appreciate Ken Miller’s approach to the term ‘theistic evolution.’ For example, I practiced dentistry, and in the early years I was an atheist and later I became a theist (evangelical Christian). I never practised ‘atheist dentistry’ or ‘theistic dentistry.’ I practiced dentistry, period. I found that there was one good way to extract a wisdom tooth, and atheism or theism had nothing to do with my protocol. So in may ways I’m with Dr. Miller.
However, Ken Miller is a leading figure in the modern origins controversy, and the term ‘theistic evolution’ does assist us in understanding his position. Clearly, he does not embrace the views of Richard Dawkins, an ‘atheistic evolutionist’ or ‘dysteleological evolutionist.’ I think that in the context of this controversy these qualifications are necessary.
I must also add that I find the term ‘theistic evolution’ problematic because which ‘theism’ are we referring to? Pantheism? Panentheism? Traditional theism? Or even a deistic spin on theism? As well, and this is my personal twist, I don’t like the inversion of priority in the term theistic evolution–a scientific theory as the substantive (noun), and God as a qualifying term (adjective). Consequently, I prefer ‘evolutionary creation.’ This term also seems to be emerging with those who accept evolution and have distinctly conservative Christian views.”

Thanks, Denis, for introducing another term into the discussion. What do you think: Is “evolutionary creation” better or worse than “theistic evolution”?

Ken Miller Is Not a "Theistic Evolutionist"

Heather Wax — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:52:00 +0000

Ken Miller, on a train to New York City for a radio interview about his new book Only a Theory, just sent us this quick note from his iPhone:

“I always reject the term ‘theistic evolutionist.’ I am a theist and an evolutionist, to be sure, but the combined term makes no sense to me. Never heard anyone described as a ‘theistic chemist,’ have you?”

Thanks, Ken, for setting the record straight. What do you think: Is there value in the term “theistic evolutionist”?

Darrel Falk Speaks

Heather Wax — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Darrel Falk, a biology professor at Point Loma Nazarene University in California who’s known for being an anti-creationist, spoke to an all-Christian audience about “Bridging the Worlds of Faith and Biology” last night at Eastern Nazarene College in Massachusetts. Beginning with Scripture and ending with prayer, the central part of Falk’s talk focused on evolution—or what he calls “gradual creation”—as he explained the role of chromosomal mutation in the process. “God has guided creation to where it has gone, but has not micro-managed all the details,” he said. And just like enjoying a beautiful sunset can be a way of meditating on God, Falk said, exploring evolution can be a “worship experience because it’s God creation and God’s truth.”
Falk, who also addressed the evolution-creation controversy in his 2004 book Coming to Peace With Science, is currently working with Dr. Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, and Rick Warren, founder and pastor of the Saddleback Church, to address the divide between science and evangelical Christianity. —Heather Ciras

Denis Lamoureux Speaks

Heather Wax — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:27:00 +0000

Denis Lamoureux, an assistant professor of science and religion at St. Joseph’s College at the University of Alberta, will speak about “Evolutionary Creation” at the next Suter Science Seminar on February 15 at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. Peter Dula, an assistant professor of religion and culture at EMU, and Nancy Heisey, chair of EMU’s Bible and religion department will respond.

Q&A

Heather Wax — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:05:00 +0000

John Haught, a senior fellow in science and religion at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and author of Deeper Than Darwin and God After Darwin, recently spoke with Salon.com about his theology, the new atheists, and why there should be no conflict between science and religion, evolution and God. —Heather Wax