Handling contention
The interpretation of Genesis – in particular the alleged conflict between evolution and creation – arouses extremely strong passions among fundamentalist believers (just as among the ‘new atheists’ and others). It’s a difficult and emotive issue – but it matters, because if science and faith are seen in opposition, many may turn away from faith altogether.
One response is to keep a low profile – but that lets the fundamentalists call the tune, and can give younger, scientifically literate members the impression they’re alone, or that the literalist view is the only acceptable one in the church.
These two quotations show why it is important that people don’t feel forced to make a choice:
“Too many have some to believe one has to make a choice: either science is fundamentally flawed because it cannot see the design rules, or the world of faith is imaginary because it sees rules that do not exist. One cannot live, each side feels, in two worlds at once. As a result, millions of people have come to conclude that science. In essence, is so mistaken at its very core that fundamental tenets of biology, physics, geology and astrophysics are all wrong. On the other side, in the world based on a scientific view of the universe, millions of people have decided that the world of faith is so utterly out of touch with reality that its conversation is meaningless blather: two different languages, two different worlds.” (Darrel R. Falk, Coming to Peace with Science, IVP 2004, p.14)
“The sad fact is that not all Christians have heeded Augustine’s warning. The public promotion of creationism and ID [intelligent design] continues to create intellectual barriers for scientists, significantly diminishing the likelihood of their taking the gospel seriously. Some high-profile scientists… gave up the faith because some well-meaning member of their local church told them that they couldn’t be a real Christian and believe in evolution at the same time. Promoting such a false dichotomy is ….very damaging to the spread of God’s kingdom. Launching attacks on evolution is divisive and splits the Christian community, putting up unnecessary barriers for those who wish to know more about the core beliefs of the Christian faith. My own experience within the scientific community is that the word ‘Christian’ is now often equated with the idea of creationism or ID, making it that much harder to share the good news about Christ.”
(Denis Alexander, “Creation or evolution: do we have to choose”, Monarch 2008, p.352)
Some further reading:
http://biologos.org/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Evolutionary-Creationism-A-Christadelphian-Perspective/285058394842055
http://christadelphianevolution.blogspot.co.uk/
http://davidbrownuk.com/evolutionandcreation.htm http://davidbrownuk.com/howtoreadgenesis.htm
Francis Collins, ‘The Language of God’, Pocket Books, 2007
Darrel R. Falk, Coming to Peace with Science, IVP, 2004
Denis Alexander, ‘Creation or Evolution – Do we have to choose?’, Monarch, 2008
Karl W Giberson and Francis S Collins, ‘The Language of Science and Faith’, SPCK, 2011
John C Lennox, ‘God’s Undertaker’, Lion, 2009
Kenneth R Miller, ‘Finding Darwin’s God’, HarperCollins, 1999