OK. I’ve read the complete article, “Why you can’t reconcile God and evolution” by Greta Christina, and have just finished winning the Dog Disc Competition with my high-flying canine, Caesar. In the wake of this humble victory I will recommend the following books: “Alone In The World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology,” by J. Wentzel Van Huyssteen; “Why Does The World Exist?” by Jim Holt; and finally, “Why Science Does Not Disprove God “by Amir D. Aczel. Of course, reading these texts will take time and loads of synapse connections will be exercised.
In the meantime, allow me this more concise breakdown: On Greta Christina’s Point No. 1, that the process of evolution is without direction and therefore “God” would not direct, I would say that a creator-deity would be involved, to the extent that Existence Itself is summoned into Existence and that may mean a multiplicity of universes and that we happen to find ourselves in one of these, where there is terrible suffering and brutality. Regardless, God is involved, NOT as a watchmaker who makes and winds a watch, but as One who stands (an anthropomorphism, I know) in unique relationship with the watch, whether it runs “correctly” or not. With this in mind, Christians make the absurd claim is that God is so invested in this creation that God becomes incarnate in Jesus and submits to the randomness, with which we are familiar. Paradoxically, God’s seeming absence then becomes God’s presence, which is where St. John got the Dark Night of the Soul, etc.
On Greta Christina’s Point No. 2, that there is no evidence for a deity’s causal connection in the world, I would say that the scientific method looks for evidence, but also recognizes the limits of its own inquiry. A scientist can only observe the empirical universe and offer an hypothesis. People of faith hypothesize that a creator-deity is Wholly Other, and removed from the Existence that is permitted to Exist. No evidence for or against.
On Greta Christina’s Point No. 3, that there is an abundance of evidence AGAINST the involvement of a creator-deity, much of this is put forward, as if God were an Incompetent Engineer. That is to say, Christina is concerned with how human beings and giraffes ought to have been created more efficiently. And wouldn’t a “Divine Tinkerer” be expected to perform in this way? Well, yes… But the author avoids the issue of SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS, which is THE distinguishing characteristic of the Homo Sapien species. And yet, there’s no good reason for it. Being aware of ourselves actually gets in the way, and leads to depression and suicide, not to mention narcissism. And MY major point is that if Evolution self-selects according to a principle of survival of the fittest, this mutation works against us over and over and over again. Did I hear someone say, “Sin?” Yes, for theists, self-consciousness is a blessing and a curse. We become so aware of ourselves that we are ashamed and try to cover up or control our environment, when the alternative is to ask for HELP.
On Greta Christina’s Point #4, her final foray into the abyss, where the sheer messiness of evolution takes center-stage, my response echoes what I’ve read in Van Huyssteen: “We humans are also affected by hostility, arrogance, vulnerability and dependence, ruthlessness and cunning, and therefore are inescapably caught between what we have come to call “good and evil.” This experience of good and evil, and theological distinctions between evil, moral failure, sin, tragedy and redemption, lies beyond the empirical scope of the fossil record, and therefore beyond the scope of science. But it is science that helps us better understand our evolutionarily developed bodies that are bearers of human uniqueness…”(p. 325). That’s all for now. If anyone wants to take up the challenge of reading one of the aforementioned books, let me know. Follow-up discussion will include beer and coffee.
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