"Within the community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and disagreement, including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible – the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark – convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts.
We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others†is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."
It's a good start. If they open it up to regular folk, I wonder how many sigs they would get.
It's about time a sector of intelligent religious people started speaking up. If I believed in God, I'd be pretty pissed about how his name has been invoked in the last little while.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:15 pm Posts: 25452 Location: Under my wing like Sanford & Son Gender: Male
My chemistry teacher in high school was a former monk who had gone back to school to get his doctorate. He always said that not only did science not erode the foundations of his religion, but that science confirmed the incredible nature of his and the world's relationship with God. To him, things such as chemical structure and evolution were such perfect systems that they could only have come from God, and science was the gift of rational thought given to man. I'll never forget the things he said.
_________________ Now that god no longer exists, the desire for another world still remains.
Always do the right thing.
Last edited by Orpheus on Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:20 am Posts: 5198 Location: Connecticut Gender: Male
Orpheus wrote:
My chemistry teacher in high school was a former monk who had gone back to school to get his doctorate. He always said that not only did science not erode the foundations of his religion, but that science confirmed the incredible nature of his and the world's relationship with God. To him, things such as chemical structure and evolution were such perfect systems that they could only have come from God, and science was the gift of rational thought given to man. I'll never forget the things he said.
My entire life, I have wondered why more people didn't think this way.
Why do science and religion always have to be at odds, when they can easily compliment eachother? It's so much easier, not to mention rational, to say God created the big bang or evolution, than to deny their existance.
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:36 am Posts: 399 Location: New York
In a related topic, this month, there was a paper published in The Vatican News Paper, L'Osservatore Romano. That said intelligent design was not science, and that teaching it alongside evolutionary theory in school classrooms only creates confusion.
My chemistry teacher in high school was a former monk who had gone back to school to get his doctorate. He always said that not only did science not erode the foundations of his religion, but that science confirmed the incredible nature of his and the world's relationship with God. To him, things such as chemical structure and evolution were such perfect systems that they could only have come from God, and science was the gift of rational thought given to man. I'll never forget the things he said.
My entire life, I have wondered why more people didn't think this way.
Why do science and religion always have to be at odds, when they can easily compliment eachother? It's so much easier, not to mention rational, to say God created the big bang or evolution, than to deny their existance.
Great post, Orpheus.
There is nothing rational about believing in the existence of God. Rational thought and faith have nothing to do with one another. That's the entire gist of religous faith or belief in a higher power is that there is no rational explanation or reason to do so yet some people choose to live a life of faith or with faith in a higher power.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
LittleWing wrote:
Wait, so not everyone that believes in God is a right-wing religious zealot?
If you actually believe that that is the position of any rational thinking person, on this board or elsewhere, then you are just as guilty of believing that anyone who DOESN'T believe in God is a Christian-hating atheist baby-killer intent upon destroying all vestiges of religion in public view.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:20 am Posts: 5198 Location: Connecticut Gender: Male
Ampson11 wrote:
Sandler wrote:
Orpheus wrote:
My chemistry teacher in high school was a former monk who had gone back to school to get his doctorate. He always said that not only did science not erode the foundations of his religion, but that science confirmed the incredible nature of his and the world's relationship with God. To him, things such as chemical structure and evolution were such perfect systems that they could only have come from God, and science was the gift of rational thought given to man. I'll never forget the things he said.
My entire life, I have wondered why more people didn't think this way.
Why do science and religion always have to be at odds, when they can easily compliment eachother? It's so much easier, not to mention rational, to say God created the big bang or evolution, than to deny their existance.
Great post, Orpheus.
There is nothing rational about believing in the existence of God. Rational thought and faith have nothing to do with one another. That's the entire gist of religous faith or belief in a higher power is that there is no rational explanation or reason to do so yet some people choose to live a life of faith or with faith in a higher power.
If someone tells me they don't believe in the Big Bang or Evolution at all for religious reasons, I view them as completely irrational. If they tell me they believe that God created the big bang and evolution, it sounds like rational thought. I know the difference between faith and rational thought. I'm not trying to say that belief in God is rational, just that a belief that your god created said things is more rational than denying their existance.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:15 pm Posts: 25452 Location: Under my wing like Sanford & Son Gender: Male
Sandler is exactly right. Ultimately the Christian religion revolves around faith, but people like my science teacher view the wonders of science as a confrimation of their faith rather than a challenge to it. For them, the natural world and its wonders are the concrete representation of this abstract faith.
_________________ Now that god no longer exists, the desire for another world still remains.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
Orpheus wrote:
Sandler is exactly right. Ultimately the Christian religion revolves around faith, but people like my science teacher view the wonders of science as a confrimation of their faith rather than a challenge to it. For them, the natural world and its wonders are the concrete representation of this abstract faith.
Well, as long as one doesn't have faith in irrational things, then science can be a confirmation of faith, and not a challenge to it. If one believes in garbage that is contrary to scientific knowledge, then science will be a threat. Yes, garbage.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
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