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Thank you so much for your excellent post! Hugs!!!

Need I say how pathologically reductionist I think this view of man is. It effectively turns man and all of nature into a machine. There is no life here, no consciousness, no spirit.

Evolutionary theory doesn’t deal with life. And because it doesn’t, it can’t deal with consciousness. And it’s hostile to spirit.

IMHO, you've "hit the nail on the head." It would be tolerable to say that consciousness/spirit is outside the scope of biology were it not for the fact that some of the scientists turn right back around and say that neither consciousness nor spirit can exist because they are not material.

Personally, I find that attempt at being clever rather humorous. But, sadly, many people trust scientists absolutely, pretty much the same way they trust medical doctors. But there are dangerous doctors just like there are scientists with ill motive.

It would be tolerable to say that consciousness/spirit is outside the scope of biology were it not for the fact that some of the scientists turn right back around and say that neither consciousness nor spirit can exist because they are not material.

Well, A-Girl, whatcha gonna do with some of these guys? You can't censor scientists who express personal philosophical beliefs, even when they go way beyond what their science literally indicates. And you don't want to literally outlaw science because of those who make such statements. However, people who select high school texts should take care that they contain only science, and not the author's unsupportable philosophical agenda. (There's a tendency to get carried away here, which is a topic for another thread.)

Besides, it's not just scientists who do this kind of thing. All kinds of people make all kinds of unsupportable claims that go well outside of their areas of professional competence. Preachers do it too. Personally, I wish they'd stop telling us about economics and taxes and all that Great Society stuff. But it's precisely because all fields of learning have blowhards that we must learn to do our own thinking. Life just ain't easy.

[Wildly enthusiastic hugs!]

It would be tolerable to say that consciousness/spirit is outside the scope of biology were it not for the fact that some of the scientists turn right back around and say that neither consciousness nor spirit can exist because they are not material.

Personally, I find that attempt at being clever rather humorous. But, sadly, many people trust scientists absolutely, pretty much the same way they trust medical doctors. But there are dangerous doctors just like there are scientists with ill motive.

A-G, you've hit my double concern right on the head here: the cultural effects of scientistic popularization of a bastardized evolutionary theory, and damage done to the integrity of science itself in the process.

Yet somehow, arguments based on such concerns get translated into "proof" that I am engaging in the defense of creationist doctrine. To me, that looks like a gross (and possibly willful) misdirection. I wonder why it seems to happen so often.

Thanks so much for your post, A-G! Hope you're enjoying your company this weekend! Hugs!!!