The Quotable Evangelical Evolutionist

Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution:

God communicates through science. Facts are God's native tongue. Who of us would let a first-century dentist fix our children's teeth? Yet every day we let first-century theologians fill our children's brains.

There's a difference between flat-earth faith and evolutionary faith. In flat-earth Christianity, the core insights -- sin, salvation, heaven and hell -- are understood in the same way as when people first formulated ideas. I still value the same concepts, but interpret them in a radically different way.

Fables of the Reconstruction of the...

All-white church may hire black pastor

ASHLAND — First Baptist Church in Ashland may soon lay claim to a first: The all-white church is on track to hire a black minister full time.

The Good: My hometown has just modernized itself out of the 19th century!

The Bad: The newspaper has to run an article with such a headline. Why would the race of the pastoral candidate be worth more than a passing mention if the expectation wasn't that such outdated racism still would figure prominently in the church's decision making.

Towler said race wasn’t an issue in the church’s relationship with Moore, either in a positive or a negative way.

“It wasn’t an issue at all,” he said. “Although we don’t have black members now, we have had black members in the past. ...I can honestly tell you (race) was never an issue in any form or fashion. We think Harold is filled with the spirit and preaches the Bible and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Note to all: the church representative just used the "I'm not racist, I have black friends" argument.

The Ugly: The article ends on an uncomfortable Uncle Tom note:

“We’re just lifting up Jesus,” he said. “We’re not looking for current events, we’re just spreading the gospel.”

Be clear, I'm not criticizing Moore's statement or sentiment. Moore is saying a noble thing, that the Gospel should be studied apolitically. I'm criticizing the article's positioning and use of the quote, as if to say, "Don't worry, Mas'r! Uncle Tom be good, and won't go stirrin' up no troubles for da white folk." You can't end an article whose theme is institutional racism with a statement of submission without making folks like me shake our heads at how far race relations still have to go in the South.

"By jingo, buy America"

Kyle on "Mindless, Anti-Christian Jingoism" deserves your attention.

Francis Collins, class act

Apparently, my first year of medical school was the first year in which Francis Collins didn't teach M1s medical genetics at the University of Michigan, so I never got to meet the guy. He was too firmly entrenched as director of the genome project by then, and while I'm sure lecturing me on genetics would be his second greatest achievement, honing his ninja genetics skillz at NIH makes sense too.

Collins is also famous as an evangelical Christian who makes a lot of sense when he talks. There aren't a lot of those on the national stage, and not a lot of them in the scientific community with voices loud enough to be heard.

So, some have asked, doesn't your brain explode? Can you both pursue an understanding of how life works using the tools of genetics and molecular biology, and worship a creator God? Aren't evolution and faith in God incompatible? Can a scientist believe in miracles like the resurrection?

Actually, I find no conflict here, and neither apparently do the 40 percent of working scientists who claim to be believers. Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.

This is a guy who is obviously interested in cutting out the bullshit. I'd like to think that it's the bullshit, and not religion itself, that scares away intellectuals and scientists.

As an almost formal rule, I don't really talk about my personal religious beliefs with anyone nowadays. I hadn't really thought about that fact, but the last time I can remember even trying to have a discussion of what I believed was during my first year of medical school.

Ken Ham tried to brainwash me, and now he wants to stiff arm you

Anyone who spends more than a few hours with me learns of my redneck past. That redneck past included a sort of fascist conservatism inspired by backwoods Baptist regime, and sure, I'm a little proud I escaped. In my bootcamp time at a Baptist church in northeastern Kentucky, the youth group (of which I was a rogue, because I listened to devil music like R.E.M. and the Dave Matthews Band, although even the kids who listened to Jars of Clay were given dirty looks as well) showed Ken Ham's Answers in Genesis series.

Ken Ham is an Australian guy with some made up degrees who responds to any and all questions about evolution with "Well, were you there? God was, and you weren't. So there." I can't argue with that logic. Something about the aussie accent makes it just that much more farcical. It feels like maybe this is some foreigner who is totally proud to be taking these bumpkins for a ride with his materials. But unfortunately, that's probably not the case.

To insert myself into this picture, I think this was about the time I was 16, and still a full-court press creationist. I was taking AP Biology, and I wasn't quite convinced that evolution (or macroevolution, as the ID folks like to specifiy) really made sense. I'd learned enough of the internal logic to have an intelligent debate about evolution with other creationist folk. Sadly, there was no one at my church with a substantial science background to have an intelligent debate (Josh Hearne was only 14... so I'll give him a break), so I was roughly left alone, except for the one associate pastor who trained at Liberty University (that's Jerry Falwell's brainwash camp, for the uninitiated). Between Ken Ham's terrible logic, and David whose-last-name-I-can't-remember's complete disregard for the actual definition of the second law of thermodynamics that solidified me as somebody who would be proud to say that Creationism was a whole bunch of bullshit meant to try to get smart kids like me to stop asking all the right questions.

But I digress...

One of the great projects of the AiG folk has been to build a zillion-dollar creationist museum at Big Bone Lick State Park in northern Kentucky, just a skip down from Cincinnati.

I blog this now because Mark at BluegrassReport has a nice little tidbit:

Administrators of Answers in Genesis's Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky. have asked Gov. Ernie Fletcher to grant special police powers to their onsite security force.

Museum officials say they need the gubernatorial action so their 10- to 20-person security team can gain access to better training and equipment to ensure they can handle the crowds and traffic anticipated when the facility opens May 28.

Construction is nearing completion on the $25 million museum, which provides detailed views of the creationist's argument that the earth was created in six days about 6,000 years ago, as opposed to the multibillion year process that evolutionists espouse.

Now, I won't pretend to know why these folks think they need some sort of special privileges. Maybe this is standard procedure, maybe they're afraid that the less-enlightened of the anti-creationists would be interested in vandalism or protest.

But I sorta doubt it. It's creepy, and its certainly consistent with the authoritarian world view Ken Ham and his Army of the Gullible endorse. It's better to run your institution as a police state than to risk someone asking the wrong question.

So remember: Adam and Eve lived with the dinosaurs. And if you don't think so, we'd be happy to show you to the door using only the necessary force for which we are authorized by Governor Fletcher.

Ted Haggard "completely heterosexual"???

Ted Haggard, the ousted Colorado mega church leader, has returned from 3 weeks (yes, 3 whole weeks) of intensive therapy to declare himself "completely heterosexual." Perhaps the three weeks of therapy involved hypnotism where he forgot about the 3 YEAR long affair he had with a man. Or maybe this is just his way of saving face so he can get back to the lucrative and ego boosting job of leading another mega church. Shame on him for thinking that three weeks of talk therapy can change his identity - but I guess that's just another lie he's telling himself.

Politics: Gay Marriage and the End of Civilization

My attention wandered during the "Theology and Science" seminar. Just a little bit.

LGBT: Gay Evangelicals?

Gay evangelicals struggle to find a church where they feel welcome and comfortable practicing their faith. Given the recent outing of two prominent evangelical leaders, let's all pray that this spurs some questioning from the evangelical community at large as to the acceptance of LGBT individuals. If someone like Rev Barnes can struggle his whole life and not be able to "convert," maybe that means that conversion isn't really the answer. Maybe some people were actually created gay by God and are meant to love a partner of the same sex. Maybe Jesus doesn't want us to be judged and discriminated against. Just a thought.

Religion: "Bad Catholics and Birth Control"

Chris Tessone recommends a recent National Catholic Reporter editorial on the latest statements from the US Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops at Even the Devils Believe.

Culture: The War on Christmas

I want you!

I'm serious.

See also "The War on Christmas Explained."