Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

However, we can challenge the christian religion with impunity because it has absolutely no history or benefit inured to man kind.

The christian religion is responsible for many of history's atrocities

Spendi, I will overlook your boorishness for now.
You will take the utmost extreme examples, such as provided by a lunatic like Sade, and hammer away that this is where evolution leads. Opponents of evolution, trying to establish that destruction and depravity are the sole means and end of evolutionary thought are not in the ball park. You can't leave out the rest of the theory and get any traction for your argument.

Of course destruction is a means and end of evolutionary thought. The survival of the fittest means exactly that.

Only a moral sensibility can understand what depravity is. There is no such thing in evolutionary thought.

well, you used periods and a few commas , there were some words that were strung to gether with a verb and a noun or two.

Speaker Robert John Russell's goal to meld science, faith
(Grant T. Purvis, Springfield News-Leader, January 29, 2010)

A speaker in Drury University's Convocation Series challenged scientists and Christians to bridge the gap between their fields of wisdom.

Robert John Russell, who spoke Thursday at Drury's Clara Thompson Hall, holds a Ph.D in experimental physics and is ordained in the United Church of Christ. He said his mission was to create a constructive and respectful dialogue between science and faith where both sides could learn and benefit from the other.

"I try to bring them both together because I am a scientist and a Christian," Russell said.

Russell, founder and director of The Center for Theology and Natural Sciences at Berkeley, Calif., said the debate between science and religion should be more respectful and mutually appreciative. The center's mission statement is "To promote the creative mutual interaction between theology and the natural sciences."

"I want to provide a safe space for discussion," he said.

The idea that one must choose creation or evolution is something that Russell is working to change. In his talk, Russell challenged the idea of making religious worldviews out of science. He also said that the book of Genesis does not teach science.

However, Russell said that science and belief in God were two things that cannot be easily separated.

"The goal is to put them into a relationship where both support one another," Russell said. A viewpoint called theistic evolution is something that accomplishes that goal, Russell said.

Theistic evolution is a belief that evolution is how God creates life.

Pope John Paul II was one of many people who support this type of integration between science and the Bible, Russell said.

Russell, who has given his talk at other schools, including the Gregorian University in Rome, said he hoped his listeners would gain an appreciation for big bang cosmology and evolutionary biology.

Kenneth Gardner, 73, one of Russell's listeners on Thursday, said he came to hear Russell's talk because he wanted to hear the concepts given on the big bang and how it relates to the ideas of faith.

"It's a matter of taking time now to think these kinds of things through and come to conclusions as to what all this means to the individual," Gardner said. "I'd like to be able to have enough substance that would lead me to find compatibility between the big bang and religious concepts."

Kris Callen, 50, another of Russell's listeners, said she agrees with Russell's ideas of reaching out and understanding other people's perspectives.

"As a person of faith, I'm always troubled that we try to draw the line in the sand and put our understandings on either side," Callen said.

Tom Gist, 58, said that he came to hear some thoughtful insights into resolving the conflict between religion and science.

Not all listeners agreed with Russell.

Becca Hardin, 19, a student at Drury, called the debate between science and religion one of the biggest of all time.

"As an atheist, I didn't really agree with what he had to say," Hardin said, "but he only had 50 minutes and it would take days for him to talk about everything he knows."

Peter Browning, Drury Convocation Series director, said that Russell was selected to speak because of his excellent reputation in the fields of science and theology.

"Russell taught at Carlton College and had Drury's Associate Dean Bruce Callen as a student," Browning said. He referred to Russell as the most sophisticated speaker of the series.

"My hope for his talk is that people will understand that faith and reason can be integrated," Browning said. He said he believes one can learn about God through Scripture and church tradition but also through all the disciplines of the university, including science.

Quote:

Speaker Robert John Russell's goal to meld science, faith
(Grant T. Purvis, Springfield News-Leader, January 29, 2010)

"The goal is to put them into a relationship where both support one another," Russell said. A viewpoint called theistic evolution is something that accomplishes that goal, Russell said.

Quote:

Speaker Robert John Russell's goal to meld science, faith
(Grant T. Purvis, Springfield News-Leader, January 29, 2010)

"My hope for his talk is that people will understand that faith and reason can be integrated," Browning said.

cOBBET WAS AN OPPORTUNIST WHO, LIKE ALL bRITS IN THE 18TH CENTURY, WE MANAGED TO DEPORT UNDER THREAT OF FINANCIAL REPRISAL.
HE DID SAY SOM CUTESY THINGS ABOUT HIS COUNTRYMEN THOUGH.MOSTLY ABOUT THEIR INTEMPERANCE

I don't know. Can Faith and Reason really be integrated? Or is it more accurate to say that a person has to de-integrate their emotional and intellectual thoughts in order to embrace both philosophies?

Don’t speak about posterity to me! 75

If I went on about posterity,

Where would you get your worldly fun?

Folk want it, and they’ll still have some.

The presence of a fine young man

Is nice, I think, for everyone. 80

Who, comfortably, shares his wit,

And to their moods takes no exception:

He’ll make himself a greater hit,

And win a more secure reception.

Be brave, and show them what you’ve got, 85

Have Fantasy with all her chorus, yes,

Mind, Reason, Passion, Tears, the lot,

But don’t you leave out Foolishness.

Why waste any time by trying to keep two disparate thought processes? Faith requires you believe just because its said to be so, while science requires severe proofs and evidence of its every statement .
I like to keep my ways simple and unencumbered with conflicts in reason.