Posted on 12/18/2004 5:56:30 PM PST by PatrickHenry
Professional danger comes in many flavors, and while Richard Colling doesn't jump into forest fires or test experimental jets for a living, he does do the academic's equivalent: He teaches biology and evolution at a fundamentalist Christian college.
At Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., he says, "as soon as you mention evolution in anything louder than a whisper, you have people who aren't very happy." And within the larger conservative-Christian community, he adds, "I've been called some interesting names."
But those experiences haven't stopped Prof. Colling -- who received a Ph.D. in microbiology, chairs the biology department at Olivet Nazarene and is himself a devout conservative Christian -- from coming out swinging. In his new book, "Random Designer," he writes: "It pains me to suggest that my religious brothers are telling falsehoods" when they say evolutionary theory is "in crisis" and claim that there is widespread skepticism about it among scientists. "Such statements are blatantly untrue," he argues; "evolution has stood the test of time and considerable scrutiny."
His is hardly the standard scientific defense of Darwin, however. His central claim is that both the origin of life from a primordial goo of nonliving chemicals, and the evolution of species according to the processes of random mutation and natural selection, are "fully compatible with the available scientific evidence and also contemporary religious beliefs." In addition, as he bluntly told me, "denying science makes us [Conservative Christians] look stupid."
Prof. Colling is one of a small number of conservative Christian scholars who are trying to convince biblical literalists that Darwin's theory of evolution is no more the work of the devil than is Newton's theory of gravity. They haven't picked an easy time to enter the fray. Evolution is under assault from Georgia to Pennsylvania and from Kansas to Wisconsin, with schools ordering science teachers to raise questions about its validity and, in some cases, teach "intelligent design," which asserts that only a supernatural tinkerer could have produced such coups as the human eye. According to a Gallup poll released last month, only one-third of Americans regard Darwin's theory of evolution as well supported by empirical evidence; 45% believe God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago.
Usually, the defense of evolution comes from scientists and those trying to maintain the separation of church and state. But Prof. Colling has another motivation. "People should not feel they have to deny reality in order to experience their faith," he says. He therefore offers a rendering of evolution fully compatible with faith, including his own. The Church of the Nazarene, which runs his university, "believes in the biblical account of creation," explains its manual. "We oppose a godless interpretation of the evolutionary hypothesis."
It's a small opening, but Prof. Colling took it. He finds a place for God in evolution by positing a "random designer" who harnesses the laws of nature he created. "What the designer designed is the random-design process," or Darwinian evolution, Prof. Colling says. "God devised these natural laws, and uses evolution to accomplish his goals." God is not in there with a divine screwdriver and spare parts every time a new species or a wondrous biological structure appears.
Unlike those who see evolution as an assault on faith, Prof. Colling finds it strengthens his own. "A God who can harness the laws of randomness and chaos, and create beauty and wonder and all of these marvelous structures, is a lot more creative than fundamentalists give him credit for," he told me. Creating the laws of physics and chemistry that, over the eons, coaxed life from nonliving molecules is something he finds just as awe inspiring as the idea that God instantly and supernaturally created life from nonlife.
Prof. Colling reserves some of his sharpest barbs for intelligent design, the idea that the intricate structures and processes in the living world -- from exquisitely engineered flagella that propel bacteria to the marvels of the human immune system -- can't be the work of random chance and natural selection. Intelligent-design advocates look at these sophisticated components of living things, can't imagine how evolution could have produced them, and conclude that only God could have.
That makes Prof. Colling see red. "When Christians insert God into the gaps that science cannot explain -- in this case how wondrous structures and forms of life came to be -- they set themselves up for failure and even ridicule," he told me. "Soon -- and it's already happening with the flagellum -- science is going to come along and explain" how a seemingly miraculous bit of biological engineering in fact could have evolved by Darwinian mechanisms. And that will leave intelligent design backed into an ever-shrinking corner.
It won't be easy to persuade conservative Christians of this; at least half of them believe that the six-day creation story of Genesis is the literal truth. But Prof. Colling intends to try.
Oh, they try all on their own. For a real life example, check the fertility rates of Englishmen/Australian Aborigine marriages.
Wow! Heavy duty stuff, and flame-free, too. Thanks for the pointer...
That was good. Take a bow.
*cough*
I was a tadpole when I began to begin
Next I was a frog with my tail tucked in
Then I was a monkey in a coconut tree
And now I'm a man with a PhD.
~Tim Leigh
There once was a creo from Kansas,Not my best effort.
Whose rational faculty was hopeless,
When given a fact,
He'd inevitably react,
With ignorance imperviously righteous.
Thanks for the link. I will read it later today. :-)
I like that song! :-)
Bravo! clap clap clap! You did a marvelous job. :-)
I think that tape is in the trunk of my car somewhere.
I have that song on CD. :-)
I first heard it watching the movie "Heavy Metal". (got it on DVD as well) LOL!
Well, I guess I'm just going to have to trot out my "Ballad of the CREVO Troll" (a remake of the old "Rawhide" TV show's theme song.)
=============================
Keep trollin', trollin', trollin!
Through their threads we're scrollin’
Keep them Strawmen rollin', Troll-ooooon!
Don't try to understand 'em!
Just hook ‘em, play, and land 'em!
“Holy Warriors,” a crusade we are on.
My brain ain’t calculatin’
cuz I ain’t had no edjoocatin’
So I cut’n’paste “Hovind” until dawn.
Set ‘em up; knock ‘em down,
Knock ‘em down, prop ‘em up,
Prop ‘em up, knock ‘em down, Troll-oooon!
Knock ‘em down, set ‘em up,
Set ‘em up, knock ‘em down,
Knock ‘em down, prop ‘em up, Troll-oooon!
Keep trollin’, trollin’, trollin’,
A hundred “Strawmen” rollin’,
Keep them threads a boilin’, Troll-ooooon!
In spite of facts and reason
it’s anti-Evo season,
Glad that Charles Darwin is long gone!
Their evil lives we'll straighten
With quotes we're good at fakin',
and fallacies far and wide until dawn...
Set ‘em up; knock ‘em down,
Knock ‘em down, prop ‘em up,
Prop ‘em up, knock ‘em down, Troll-oooon!
Knock ‘em down, set ‘em up,
Set ‘em up, knock ‘em down,
Knock ‘em down, prop ‘em up, Troll-oooon!
TROLL-ON!!!
What new species have evolved since the theory surfaced ?
For the longest time it was not released. (Song copyrights and all that)
Glad it's out now. Is a fun late night popcorn movie. :-)
Ah, you brush aside all the accumulated evidence and you latch onto this. Okay. Tell me, is this your last remaining reason for rejecting the theory? If I took the time to give you evidence that would answer this question, would it make any difference to you?
What kind of animal or hybrid life form did you evolve from ?
I should have know better than to respond to someone who shows up in a thread with over 1,000 posts and posts something silly to #1. My mistake. I assumed you were serious.
The North American Creatinoid Militantius ignoramus
Haven't seen that movie in ages. Used to be a big B.O.C. fan though.
That's pretty much the gap theory.
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