Jim Manzi, professional smartypants, has just joined Reihan's ever-expanding stable of writers over at The American Scene. Here's his first post, riffing on something Jonah wrote on scientific progress and moral progress. And here's a longer taste of Manzi, writing on evolution (and against both the "evolution requires embracing atheism" and "religion requires embracing intelligent design" sets) for NR.
« A Pro-Choice GOP? | Main | Who's Afraid of Ron Paul? » Something To Give Thanks For21 Nov 2007 11:47 am Comments (5)
Freddie, I'm going to respectfully disagree. Evolution tells us that we are not made in the image of God and that we are not particularly special, genetically. No one can disprove a miracle, especially one that occurred thousands of years ago. But we can look around us and be quite sure that a fundamental aspect of Christianity -- our kinship with the Deity -- is actually better explained by biology. Ask any woman going through a particularly difficult childbirth. This is the product of Intelligent Design? Note also Manzi's god of gaps argument -- whether it's abiogenesis or fine-tuning of cosmological constants after the Big Bang, believers who accept science are forced into ever smaller windows in which the Deity can act. 
Re: Evolution tells us that we are not made in the image of God Common sense and two millennia orthodox Christian theology tells us we were not made in God's literal image, since God is not a physical being. Hence the "image of God" has a spiritual or metaphorical meaning, not a literal one and as such it is unchallenged by Darwin. Re: believers who accept science are forced into ever smaller windows in which the Deity can act. You really do not understand Christian theology if you think it is built upon a "God of the Gaps" theory.
Francis: Thanks for your comment. I wasn't really making (and don't believe) any kind of "God of the gaps" argument. The point of the article was really that evolution doesn't solve certain specific philosophical problems (as per Freddie’s comment). For anyone who tries to read the article, please note that in the electronic version “2^100” (i.e., 2 to the 100th power) appears as “2100” – a somewhat smaller number - due to some formatting problem. I'm off to turkey-induced food coma, and hope you are too!
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I disagree with Manzi on some things, but the whole "believing in evolution is incapable with being religious" drives me absolutely batty. There's no reason why the clash between evolution and a literal interpretation of scripture is any more damning that, say, the fact that science tells us bushes can't burn and speak. Evolution is no more or less dispositive than any other scientific claim that seems contrary to religious claim, and that conflict is eliminated by many conventional readings of religious truth.
Posted by Freddie | November 21, 2007 12:06 PM