Both Sides of the Mouth
by MikeGeneEvolutionary theory says nothing about the existence or the non-existence of god. - Hunter R. Rawlings III, Interim President of Cornell University.
In other words, religion is compatible with modern evolutionary biology (and indeed all of modern science) if the religion is effectively indistinguishable from atheism. - William Provine, Charles A. Alexander Professor of Biological Sciences from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University.
Naturalistic evolution has clear consequences that Charles Darwin understood perfectly. 1) No gods worth having exist - William Provine, Charles A. Alexander Professor of Biological Sciences from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University.
October 29th, 2005 at 6:59 pm
William Provine's academic credentials notwithstanding, he mischaracterizes what Darwin "understood". Darwin was not out to show that God did not exist. Rather, Darwin couldn't conceive of how God, as then currently understood within the Christian church, and with which Darwin would have had some familiarity, could be the agent responsible for creating life as Darwin obeserved it to be. For Darwin, there were just too many "un God like" behaviors and systems in biology for him to accept that God (again, as understood within a particular Christian theology) would have had anything to do with the messiness of biological life as we actuallly observe it. Nature was just too red in tooth and claw for Darwin to believe or accept that the Divine hand of God could possibly be involved in bringing about what we actually observe in nature.
The best work on Darwin's theodicy is Cornelius G. Hunter's "Darwin's God". Hunter did a great job with the historical analysis and thinking behind Darwin's theological point of view. Contrary to Provine, Darwin was not out to dismiss God of existence, but to dismiss God of the responsibility for creation.
Comment by DonaldM — October 29, 2005 @ 6:59 pm