Philosophy of Religion : Evolution v Creation
This has been a long week. Partly because I started this part of the course early after submitting TMA01 and partly because I was then waiting on the TMA to be marked - it always seems to take ages even if it is returned reasonably quickly.
Then there was the challenge of dealing with a subject I'm having difficulty engaging with. If I have learned anything about myself in the last week, its that I was a lapsed atheist - and this is very deliberately writen in the past tense. This doesn't seem to have been a big part of my life except when I come into contact with ideas that twist science and fact to support superstition, and then it just really annoys me. Creation / intelligent design versus evolution is such a subject.
Anyway, time to engage with the course material and work towards answered the second TMA question which is,
‘The modern theory of evolution demolishes the design argument for the existence of God.’ Does it?
My initial thought is yes it does and no it doesn't.
Those who believe in science and observable evidence will understand the explanation and evidence of the theory of evolution and will discount 'creationism', even under the guise of 'intelligent design'.
Those who believe in a supreme being, who intervenes in our world and has 'designed' all that is around us are not going to accept the theory of evolution because it is contrary to the teaching of the bible. Although these people may now have to admit that the earth is not flat, that it is not the center of the universe and that it is older than 6000 years - I doubt they are really to admit that the theory of evolution explains things far better than a grand designer.
Anyway, you can only imagine my delight at discovering that Greg Graffin singer with one of my favorite bands 'Bad Religion' has now written a book "Faith, Science and Bad Religion: In A World Without God". Doctor Graffin (@DoctorGraffin for those on twitter) has a PHD in Zoology from Cornell University and lectures there in evolutionary science and biology.
His song lyrics are always intelligent and interesting so I'm looking forward to reading the book - especially to see if there are some relevant quotes for TMA02. It is only available via Amazon in the USA at present so not sure when I'll get the book delivered.
Below are three short interviews about his book......
and how you may better recognise him.....
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