New website for the Clergy Letter Project

Apparently Butler Universisty did some re-arranging of their servers. If this link doesn't work, just Google "Clergy Letter Project" and you'll find it.

The Clergy Letter Project

The Rabbi Letter

In previous posts I have mentioned the Clergy Letter Project. If you are unfamiliar here is the capsule version. An open letter to Christian Clergy was posted on the Web. It states:

"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."

Over 11,000 Christian Clergy have signed this letter! Just this past month a similar letter has joined the Clergy Letter Project, this one from Rabbis. It says:

"As rabbis from various branches of Judaism, we the undersigned, urge public school boards to affirm their commitment to the teaching of the science of evolution. Fundamentalists of various traditions, who perceive the science of evolution to be in conflict with their personal religious beliefs, are seeking to influence public school boards to authorize the teaching of creationism. We see this as a breach in the separation of church and state. Those who believe in a literal interpretation of the Biblical account of creation are free to teach their perspective in their homes, religious institutions and private schools. To teach it in the public schools would be to assert a particular religious perspective in an environment which is supposed to be free of such indoctrination.

The Bible is the primary source of spiritual inspiration and of values for us and for many others, though not everyone, in our society. It is, however, open to interpretation, with some taking the creation account and other content literally and some preferring a figurative understanding. It is possible to be inspired by the religious teachings of the Bible while not taking a literalist approach and while accepting the validity of science including the foundational concept of evolution. It is not the role of public schools to indoctrinate students with specific religious beliefs but rather to educate them in the established principles of science and in other subjects of general knowledge."

It's been there only a short time and already over 300 Rabbi's have signed it. I do wonder how the DI will spin this, I know, another letter for signature, like the meaningless "Dissent from Darwinism" foolishness. Call this one "Atheists for Intelligent Design". I bet they can gather a few signatures if they forget to mention who they are and what they plan on using it for. You know, just like they did with their first letter.

First Recorded Knee-Jerk reaction of 2008

The National Academy of Science has published a report on Evolution called "Science, Evolution, and Creationism" and the Discovery Institute responded in typical fashion. According to their press release "In the ample space of 89 pages, the NAS manages to celebrate evolution as an unassailable truth, completely misrepresent intelligent design, and rehash the same standard Darwinist arguments which have been refuted by critical scientists time and again." This should come as no surprise to those of us who have grown to enjoy their press releases as such creative little marketing tidbits. Here are a few samples of their complaints:

They brought up "The NAS exaggerates the success of evolution, hyping it as "the foundation for modern biology." and they countered with their usual "700 doctoral scientists". Does 700 scientist, many of whom are not biologists, who signed a generic statement saying Darwin wasn't the end of all knowledge really constitute a challenge to the statement that Evolution is the foundation of modern biology? Darwin is still only a piece of the theory so they haven't even made an argument against Evolution. Plus just being a dissenting voice among hundreds of thousands supporting voices doesn't mean it isn't the foundation. More word shenanigans rather than an actual concrete challenge. Let us not forget the NY Times article explaining that the majority of the 700 not only are not biologists, nor are the majority leading scientists, but most are Evangelical Christians that object on religious not scientific grounds. Why did the Discovery Institute forget to mention that part?

They go on to whine"Instead of treating evolutionary theory as an area open to further scientific inquiry, the NAS report canonizes evolution as perfect and immutable, "so well established that no new evidence is likely to alter it." I have not read the report, but I would be hard pressed to believe the NAS used the words "perfect and immutable", please notice that those words are not in the quotes of their citation, but their own opinion of the meaning of the what the NAS did say. As usually the Discovery Institute are doing their quote mining game. Since all the new evidence discovered in the past 150 years has ended up supporting evolution, I think the NAS actually made a reasonable statement. If the Discovery Institute is hinting at some huge discovery supporting Intelligent Design that will turn evolution on its ear, well the rest of the world is waiting for it, and has been waiting. So far Zilch! I don't believe the NAS sees evolution as perfect and immutable because there are numerous real scientific research and study projects working on expanding our understanding of evolution. They are just upset because the NAS doesn't see their marketing efforts as science.

They do bring in one of their newer tactics in this quote "Under their definition, a theory is not a testable area of science but rather an unquestionable dogma," said CSC program officer Casey Luskin." This tactic is to try and cast the science of evolution as just another form of religious belief. I'm not sure how much they realize how much damage they do to their own position with this tactic, but they are the marketing experts, not me. Under the NAS definition of a theory it is a testable area of science, among other things. Evolution has been tested and will continue to be tested. It is not dogma when the answer keeps coming up "Evolution."

This one I love: "Of course, this should come as no surprise, given the NAS's bias against intelligent design, which challenges Darwinian evolution on scientific grounds. Rather than addressing the science of ID, the report misrepresents the theory as an untestable religious belief." Since the Discovery Institute has released nothing that actually counters this argument, I think any bias by NAS has pretty firm ground. Intelligent Design is not testable, it has not been tested, and nothing anyone has published has even given a hint if it will ever be tested! I do love how they toss in their unsupported statement " . . .which challenges Darwinian evolution on scientific grounds". They make that statement as if it is true!

The closure is another lawyering word trick "At bottom, this report does little more than reveal a tired and weary voice of an establishment unwilling to actually address the scientific claims or the thoughtful skepticism of a growing number of scientists who disagree." Since their are the ones raising the same tired arguments and they are the ones who have done nothing to actual advance the supposed science of Intelligent Design and since the number of scientist who have signed their little dissent from Darwin letter hasn't actually grown, what credibility can you give their closure! By the way the Clergy Project has grown to well over 11,000 signatures supporting Evolution and the teaching of Evolution is schools, and the petition in Ohio to make sure Ohio schools do not teach Intelligent Design is now over 4,700 -- now those show growth!

The Clergy Letter

In an effort to aid in the discussion area of whether or not a Christian can support evolution, I offer 11,000+ signatures of American Christian Clergy of many denominations who support evolution. Head to this website to look for yourself. Look at the list of names and you might find your own clergy person!

The letter they signed wasn't vanilla like the letter all 700 . . . wow, 700 . . . scientists signed that the Discovery Institute claims shows the firestorm of controversy over Intelligent Design. Take a look at the clergy letter:

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.

and here is the Discovery Institute's letter:

“We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”

Not much to compare is there. One letter is very specific, the second is pretty vague. One specifics support for evolution and the other claims that it supports Intelligent Design. Read it for yourself: "Advocates of Intelligent Design theory such as Dr. Michael Behe, Dr. William Dembski, Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, Dr. Jonathan Wells, Dr. Steven Meyer, and Dr. Paul Nelson have quite real PhD’s, and over 700 scientists with real PhD’s have signed a statement dissenting from Darwinism." Notice how they blend their pet Intelligent Design PhD's and imply support for ID even though all they did was dissent from Darwin -- which doesn't even imply dissent from Evolution because Darwin is only part of the Modern Synthesis of Evolution Theory.

So over 11,000 clergy support evolution and only a die-hard Christian Fundamentalist would even question their religious beliefs. Each year they offer special sermons to their members on Evolution. It's called Evolution Sunday!