Gentle Disagreement in the Creation-Evolution Debate

In the war of the worldviews, it’s easy to dehumanize the enemy. Opposing sides remain unwilling to compromise, convinced their position is the right one. This tactic all too often finds its way into conversations about creation and evolution.

Christians are not immune to defending our ground so uncompromisingly that we refuse to listen to the opposition, even if the opponent is on the same side of the fence. The battle over human origins comes to mind as scientists and Christians with varying perspectives on creation seek to defend the truth as they see it. Meanwhile the infighting between the faithful continues.

But there are peacemakers among us.

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Pastors’ Views on Creation and Evolution: The Results Are In

Last week Christianity Today posted an article discussing clergy and their views on origins. As the article reports, new Barna Group research (commissioned by BioLogos) “shows that a slight majority (54 percent) of Protestant pastors across all regions most likely identify with young-earth creation.”

 

How to Engage a Science Guy (or Gal)

A few weeks ago, Bill Nye the Science Guy jumped into the science-and-faith conversation with the claim that “creationism is not appropriate for children.” He claims that by denying evolution, “your worldview just becomes crazy, untenable.”

Creationists across the spectrum might promptly disagree with Nye, but it’s helpful to first clarify Nye’s interpretation of creationism.

 

Pun Intended

Pranksters and jokesters rejoice—April Fool’s Day is here. While there’s bound to be a joke or two sprung on the RTB staff today, I’ll confess right now that I’m not the culprit. Sigh. I’ve never been any good at pulling pranks, but we do house a few jesters in our midst.

 

Monkeys and Mix Tapes

Just when you think you’ve got something all figured out, it changes. For instance a few decades ago cassettes were the business—portable, durable, and mix-tape friendly. Though CDs were around, they hadn’t yet gained much ground. But over time the world grew accustomed to the new format and cassettes died a slow but inevitable death. And now MP3s put CDs on the endangered list.

Whether it’s in consumer electronics or nature or worldviews, change is inevitable. And when it happens, it disrupts everything (for better or worse).

 

Repeat Performance

While in high school my husband, Darren, developed a talent for video production. He learned early on the various setbacks a video producer can experience while working on a project. One of the most frustrating occurred while taping something for his dad’s church. Halfway through, he discovered he had recorded over the only copy of a different video for the same church.

 

What Are the Odds?

There’s a great scene in The Empire Strikes Back where the crew of the Millennium Falcon tries desperately to escape a fleet of Imperial star destroyers. Knowing the Falcon is sorely out matched by the size and fire-power of the enemy vessels, Captain Han Solo resorts to flying his ship into a huge asteroid field to evade pursuit.

C-3PO screeches in protest, “Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!”

Han snaps, “Never tell me the odds.”