Editorial: Expelling Darwin
grudgingly amended when a distinguished philosopher and an equally distinguished historian of world religions pointed out the theological claims packed into those first two adjectives. At the...
...A conflict, one must admit, that is essentially philosophical and theological...
...Although creationist and creation science are terms sometimes extended to tar any insistence on divine creation or any legitimate criticism of neo-Darwinian argument, they properly refer to the tireless efforts, no matter how strained, to put a scientific veneer on a literal reading of Genesis...
...Add the supposition that this man-monkey branching was the result of mindless natural mechanisms...
...At the popular level, evolution by natural selection frequently functions less as scientific theory than as an alternative creation story, competing with theistic ones...
...At issue for Kansans," wrote Jacques Steinberg from Topeka, "is nothing less than reconciling two central explanations of life: the Darwinian theory that man and monkey gradually branched off of the same family tree millions of years ago as they adjusted to a changing environment, a contention heavily rooted in scientific evidence, and the creationist belief that a divine being has been pulling the biological levers of the universe, including the origin of man, as described in the Bible" (August 24...
...It is no wonder that Catholics want no part of such gymnastics, which insult our understanding of Scripture as much as our respect for science...
...The New York Times, the voice of liberal secular reason, lamented that in Kansas "bright students who might be inclined to pursue scientific careers" could now reach college unprepared (August 13...
...Commonweal 6 September 10,1999...
...And, philosophy and theology being effectively excluded from American public education, the vacuum has been filled by the farrago of anti-Darwinian polemic known as creation science...
...But the same paper's reporters made quite clear that what was involved was not just a stumbling block on the road to Harvard but a clash of world views...
...The Times's star columnist, Frank Rich, relying on a hitherto-unknown theory of welfare dependency, speculated that taxpayers might have "to foot the bill in future welfare programs for graduates of evolution-free high schools sentenced to the bottom rungs of the new economy" (August 28...
...Editorialists whose tone suggested that the Kansas board's action had touched a vital ideological nerve nonetheless preferred to couch their objections in strictly practical terms...
...Actually, the polls notwithstanding, we suspect that a sizable number of Americans simply hew to two rival accounts of life's origins and development, one personal and providential, the other blind and mechanical, not really reconciling them as much as treating each, at times, with varying degrees of skepticism...
...Subtract the trivializing, anthropomorphic image of "pulling the biological levers...
...The result is a serious conflict...
...But that is no reason to think this is a debate in which the church has no interest, or that the challenges posed to faith by widely accepted views of evolution have been long since adequately met, whether in religious education, Sunday preaching, theological exploration, or thoughtful intervention in the public debate...
...That probably explains why, to the consternation of many scientists, the polls show so many Americans resistant to the theory...
...This reluctance to face up to underlying conflicts is not limited to the popular mind or an uninvolved Catholicism...
Vol. 126 • September 1999 • No. 15
