If you have not read What’s So Great About Christianity? by Dinesh D’Souza, I would highly recommend you do so. If you are familiar with Mr. D’Souza then you know what you have to look forward to. If you are a committed Christian or an angry atheist or anything in between you will find the book fascinating and its arguments ones to be reckoned with.
This is one example of how the author addresses some of the arguments in a humorous and disarming way. When attempting to explain how evolution explains the success of religion Richard Dawkins said, “The proximate cause of religion might be hyperactivity in a particular node of the brain” and “the idea of immortality survives and spreads because it caters to wishful thinking.” D’Souza goes on to quote psychologist Steven Pinker as to why this “wishful thinking” idea does not bode well for evolutionary thinking–”A freezing person finds no comfort in believing he is warm. A person face to face with a lion is not put at ease by the conviction that he is a rabbit.”
However, D’Souza finds Pinker’s idea no more satisfying than Dawkins. Let’s pick up Dinesh at this point–”[Pinker] suggests that there might be a ‘God module’ in the brain that predisposes people to believe in the Almighty. Such a module, Pinker writes, might serve no survival purpose but could have evolved as a byproduct of other modules with evolutionary value. This is another way of saying there is no Darwinian explanation. After all, if a ‘God module’ produces belief in God, how about a ‘Darwin module’ that produces belief in evolution?” (pp. 14-15)
This is a book that would be well worth your time.
Pastor Jeff
Well the idea of a module in the brain that produces belief in evolution might be a reasonable idea, but one still has to account for the mountains of evidence of many different types that clearly show evolution happens.
Oh, you can stick your fingers in your ears and go “la la la” to ignore the evidence, but the fact is that the evidence of the world God created clearly shows humans share common ancestry with apes and other creatures. Why would all this evidence indicate this if it DIDN’T happen?
By: The Bicycling Guitarist on November 10, 2009
at 1:30 pm
I would suggest that the way we respond to the evidence has much to do with our philosophy/worldview and therefore the interpretation of the evidence–which is why 2 scientists can look at the same fossil and conclude 2 very different things. I would agree with you that to ignore the evidence that science affords us is clearly ignorant. However, would you suggest that modern science is willing to, as Carl Sagan so famously suggested, follow the evidence wherever it leads?
By: pastorjeffcma on November 10, 2009
at 10:37 pm
Humans have one less pair of chromosomes than our nearest ape cousins. Human chromosome 2 shows clear physical signs of being formed from two chromosomes that fused together. There are end pieces in the middle and two centromeres instead of one. Now how could anyone explain that any other way unless you say God took two ape chromosomes and made them fuse to create humans? I am open to that possibility. The creation museum of Ken Ham has an exhibit showing two scientists with differing interpretations based on their world views as you suggest, but it is a misleading exhibit as is everything else in that so-called museum.
Why would there be processes we can measure from different radioisotopes that can be calibrated to each other and match up, and the fossil record shows a progression of types that is consistent worldwide with the indicated ages of the rocks, and there are even more surprising correlations. Based on the percentage difference of DNA fragments of two species for a particular gene for example, one can predict based on rates of mutation how long ago those two species had a common ancestor. You look in rocks of the expected age and lo and behold, fossils of the expected common ancestor can be found. This has nothing to do with world view. It’s observing and measuring what exists. Now one person can say God guided evolution, and another can say there is no God, or some other God besides the Christian God, but for anyone to say that the evidence of the world doesn’t indicate evolution happens, well that person is abysmally ignorant of the evidence, that’s all.
By: The Bicycling Guitarist on November 10, 2009
at 11:29 pm
There are nested hierarchies of many different types of data that all result in the same tree of life. Each of these nested hierarchies is strong evidence for evolution, being what would be expected from common descent. But the fact that these hierarchies MATCH is evidence in itself.
Most creationists have been LIED to by sources they thought they should be able to trust, i.e. other Christians. For example, the Answers in Genesis web site and the Institute for Creation Research (to name just two) are riddled with errors, quotations taken out of context, distortions and out and out LIES! You don’t have to take my word for it and I don’t want you to. I encourage everyone to check it out for themselves. It’s so easy in this information age as long as you have an open mind and heart for truth.
By: The Bicycling Guitarist on November 10, 2009
at 11:34 pm
Now I know that most mainstream Christian denominations have no problem accepting evolution as the fact it is, but there are a few literal fundamentalist sects that don’t and an alarmingly high percentage of the public who are woefully misinformed about this subject.
Augustine wrote a LONG time ago about the folly of interpreting Genesis literally, that it makes Christians look foolish to non-believers if they assert something that is plainly not true. I agree with Augustine about that. How can I possibly trust fundamentalist Christians on spiritual matters that are entirely a matter of faith, with no physical proof, when they are so clearly and obviously wrong about something like evolution that has literally TONS of evidence showing it happened? Matters such as the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus cannot be observed and measured, but evolution can and has been verified countless times by countless people.
By: The Bicycling Guitarist on November 11, 2009
at 1:34 am