Letters to the Editor for February 2, 2006

The two letters printed in the Jan. 19 edition of the Herald, by Albert Mohler and Brent Walker, were the benchmarks for either side of the evolution/ID debate. I respect both these men, especially Walker, for his tireless stand against religious fundamentalism. But I cannot stand with either of these two men on this issue.

To Mohler: evolution is not the enemy. It is a fact of nature. Life evolves due to natural selection and random events in nature (like climate shifts, introduction of new species in an ecosystem, natural disasters, genetic mutations, etc). The “fittest” survive and bear offspring that are more suited to the environment than others, and they eventually replace the weaker species. It just happens. It’s the truth. If God uses evolution to achieve his plan, who am I to argue with him?

To Walker: ID is more than a religious belief. True, theism always involves a creator/god, and that is a faith statement that is based on religious tradition and religious texts, like the Bible (Christians aren’t the only religious people that believe in a creator/god). But it is also heavily dependent on physical evidence. ID is a rational extension of scientific findings to their philosophical conclusion. Evidence of designs in nature point to an ultimate designer.

But (and here I show my bias), evolutionary proponents are getting the upper hand in public discourse because they claim to be purely scientific, meaning that in their estimation, they are completely unbiased, only being influenced by “facts” of nature. Here lies their flaw: they filter all incoming evidence, disregarding anything that in any way suggests a supernatural element.

In their minds, there are no miracles simply because miracles cannot happen. God does not exist because he cannot exist! When you make your mind up about reality in advance of seeing the evidence, you will discount anything that does not fit your pre-determined reality, your worldview.

I believe exclusively teaching evolution in schools is ultimately giving the upper hand to a mechanistic/naturalistic/atheistic worldview. ID has as much place in public dialogue and schools—science classrooms—as does evolution.

NASCAR disciples

In reference to the advertisement in your Jan. 19 issue, NASCAR reminds me more of the thunderbolt wielding Zeus than of Jesus. I can’t help but wonder if the Henry County Baptist Association’s Raceway Ministries’ “Bring a Kid To the Race Day” exists to make disciples out of NASCAR fans or to make would-be disciples into NASCAR fans.

NASCAR is closely associated with the Automotive Aftermarket which in turn cross-markets steroids, violence and pornography through publications such as Hot Rod, Super Street and Car Audio and Electronics.