Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Not Sure "Christianity" Is The Issue
The London Telegraph recently printed a story on a small book attempting to paint Darwin as more metaphysically muddled than the common picture.
Of course not, it was atheists that used his theories in pursuit of their ends, and in doing so they were just as dogmatic as the intransigent young earth creationist. With the structure of his article Charles Moore implies that Christians need to learn Spence's lessons of Darwin's muddledness far more than atheists.
HOGWASH!
There is dogmatism on both sides of this fight and it is the reason the fight has gotten so ugly. And you know what really ticks me off about it is that it has gotten so because of the presumption, often based on evidence, that people cannot intellectually deal with the real complexities of a discussion like this one.
You know what I am talking about - the old rules of communication that say, make one point, make it simple, and make it emphatic.
America, heck the world, is dumbing down because, in large part, we expect a dumb world. We design our arguments and communications around a dumb world. We expect dumbness. (Brief aside: sometimes I wonder if Evangelicalism is not a huge religious movement based on this fact.)
I think it is time to begin once again to expect smart people. We may often be disappointed - as there are just not that many smart people in the world. But expectation is a funny thing. Expecting smart people will make more of them than not expecting them.
Technorati Tags:expectations, darwin, education
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
The purpose of this short book by Nick Spencer, published by SPCK, is to rescue Darwin from the war between the atheists and creationists. He points out that Darwin did not want to enlist in the battle.The piece ends with an admonishment to Christians:
Christians should not pretend that Darwin was plain wrong, or can be ignored. His theories did expose a great deal of nonsense. Nor is it enough for them to say, in a superior tone, "Oh well, the problem is only for people who believe literally in the Genesis account." What should Christians think about design, or the lack of it, and about the suffering of all animal and human creation? Christians had a "narrative" which Darwin, perhaps without meaning harm, countered with another narrative. What is the Christian narrative now?Presenting one with the implication that it is somehow Christians that picked this fight - that it is Christians that are the dogmatic, inflexible ones. And yet, if we take Spence's thesis at face value, that Darwin was religiously "muddled" - was it Christians that turned his theories into atheistic dogma? Was it Christians that tilted him up as the enemy?
Of course not, it was atheists that used his theories in pursuit of their ends, and in doing so they were just as dogmatic as the intransigent young earth creationist. With the structure of his article Charles Moore implies that Christians need to learn Spence's lessons of Darwin's muddledness far more than atheists.
HOGWASH!
There is dogmatism on both sides of this fight and it is the reason the fight has gotten so ugly. And you know what really ticks me off about it is that it has gotten so because of the presumption, often based on evidence, that people cannot intellectually deal with the real complexities of a discussion like this one.
You know what I am talking about - the old rules of communication that say, make one point, make it simple, and make it emphatic.
America, heck the world, is dumbing down because, in large part, we expect a dumb world. We design our arguments and communications around a dumb world. We expect dumbness. (Brief aside: sometimes I wonder if Evangelicalism is not a huge religious movement based on this fact.)
I think it is time to begin once again to expect smart people. We may often be disappointed - as there are just not that many smart people in the world. But expectation is a funny thing. Expecting smart people will make more of them than not expecting them.
Technorati Tags:expectations, darwin, education
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
