Evangelicals and Evolution
In a USA Today article discussing the evolution vs. creationism debate the daughter of Billy Graham, evangelist Anne Graham Lotz is quoted as saying “If you believe you have evolved, you say your life is an accident, maybe even a mistake. You have come from nowhere. You are going nowhere, and your life has no eternal purpose. You don’t belong to anyone and you have no accounting to give to anyone.”
Sobering thoughts to be sure, but what does this have to do with the accuracy of evolutionary theory? First of all let’s start with the fact that one need not decide that evolution = God doesn’t exist. That question is beyond the scope of science to address. While I must admit evolution could be construed as evidence for atheism, it is certainly not conclusive and perhaps not even all that persuasive. How is it that Catholicism can make its peace with evolution, but Evangelical Protestantism can’t?
Secondly, but more importantly, Ms. Lotz is engaging in the same logical fallacy as Dr. Dino’s essayist, “The Appeal to Consequences of a Belief.”
The fact that you may find the consequences unpleasant has nothing to do with the truth of an idea or situation. I’m sure the passengers on the Titanic didn’t want to believe that the ship was doomed because of the consequences to themselves, but the ship sank anyway. The possibility that accepting the evidence for evolution might destroy one’s faith in God may be a reason for denying evolution, but it doesn’t make evolution any less true.
Dear Ms. Lotz, if your strength of character and faith are both so weak that you need to bolster them by denying the theory of evolution simply because it casts doubt upon your beliefs, then feel free to do so. However you will excuse me if some of us aren’t that cowardly and have the strength of character to accept the conclusions of science regardless of the potential unpleasant consequences.
Personally I prefer unpleasant reality to pleasant fairy tales.
Sobering thoughts to be sure, but what does this have to do with the accuracy of evolutionary theory? First of all let’s start with the fact that one need not decide that evolution = God doesn’t exist. That question is beyond the scope of science to address. While I must admit evolution could be construed as evidence for atheism, it is certainly not conclusive and perhaps not even all that persuasive. How is it that Catholicism can make its peace with evolution, but Evangelical Protestantism can’t?
Secondly, but more importantly, Ms. Lotz is engaging in the same logical fallacy as Dr. Dino’s essayist, “The Appeal to Consequences of a Belief.”
The fact that you may find the consequences unpleasant has nothing to do with the truth of an idea or situation. I’m sure the passengers on the Titanic didn’t want to believe that the ship was doomed because of the consequences to themselves, but the ship sank anyway. The possibility that accepting the evidence for evolution might destroy one’s faith in God may be a reason for denying evolution, but it doesn’t make evolution any less true.
Dear Ms. Lotz, if your strength of character and faith are both so weak that you need to bolster them by denying the theory of evolution simply because it casts doubt upon your beliefs, then feel free to do so. However you will excuse me if some of us aren’t that cowardly and have the strength of character to accept the conclusions of science regardless of the potential unpleasant consequences.
Personally I prefer unpleasant reality to pleasant fairy tales.
posted by Alencon at 4:03 PM
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