Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?

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Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?

Posted Jun 12th 2008 4:35AM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Science, Christianity, Atheism

When Richard Dawkins published The God Delusion, philosopher Michael Ruse was quoted as saying that the book "makes me embarrassed to be an atheist." What especially galls Ruse is Dawkins' pig-headed insistence that anyone who embraces the Darwinian account of evolution cannot remain a Christian.

Ruse is a noted philosopher at Florida State University, an atheist champion of evolution and Darwinism, and author of several critically acclaimed books including Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?

I've been reading Ruse's book, and in it he counters Dawkins' simple-minded argument that God has been proven irrelevant since chance and natural selection now constitute "the blind watchmaker." Ruse writes, "It still leaves open the option of God's designing at a distance. Perhaps God put His design into action through the medium of unbroken law. Perhaps a God who works in this way is superior to a God who has to intervene personally and miraculously."

But doesn't evolution contradict a literal reading of the first chapter of Genesis? Yes, but Ruse points out that there are only two groups of people who insist on reading Genesis in a close-mindedly literal way. The first group is ignorant fundamentalists. And the second group is ignorant atheists like Dawkins.

By contrast, Ruse shows that from earliest times thoughtful Christians like the church father Augustine read the creation account figuratively. And for nearly two thousand years the Catholic Church has followed in this tradition. Ruse adds that while Calvin was a bit more literal-minded than Luther, both leading reformers also allowed for non-literal understandings of creation. Indeed Calvin introduced his doctrine of "accommodation" in which he argued that the Bible is sometimes written in a form as to make itself intelligible to people who are not well educated and don't have a sophisticated understanding of science.

Ruse 's conclusion introduces subtleties that seem entirely beyond the capacity of Dawkins. "Is the Christian obligated to be a Darwinian?" Ruse answers no, but urges Christians to take evolutionary biology seriously because they don't want a Christianity practiced in the dark. "Is the Darwinian obligated to be a Christian?" Again, the answer is no but Ruse adds this advice: "Try to be understanding of those who are." Finally Ruse gets to the big one. "Can a Darwinian be a Christian?" To which he offers the resounding answer: "Absolutely!"

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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 115)

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1. One day, Dinesh went to the doctor was informed that he had Aids. Deeply concerned, he asked the doctor if there was anything he could do about overcoming his disease. The doctor replied, yes there is, you can married a very large woman with five kids and move to Oklahoma. Somewhat confused, Dinesh then asked the doctor if that would help him live longer. The doctor replied, no, but the time that you have left will seen like forever.

gshort3011 at 9:19AM on Jun 12th 2008

2. or, the more relevant relevant question:

Can a pseudo-intellectual product of caste systems, with a superiority complex, say anything that matters?

America's Most Gangsta at 9:23AM on Jun 12th 2008

3. darwinian....hmmm....
the answer is as plain as the nose on your face
zero plus or minus one equals infinity

abbot at 9:26AM on Jun 12th 2008

4. I have no disagreement with the main point, however I do object to DD's continued assumption that Dawkin's (et al) is some sort of atheistic Pope.

Dawkin's no more represents all atheists than Lee Stroble represents all Christians.

Ryan Anderson at 9:31AM on Jun 12th 2008

5. Luckily in America one can be anything he chooses: Darwinian atheist, Darwinian agnostic, Darwinian Christian, Darwinian Judean, Darwinian Buddhist and even a fundamentalist. Only Darwinian & fundamentalist don't mix since fundies refuse to acknowledge anything outside their dogmatic religion.

Obviously the more education you are willing to provide yourself the better informed one is to make decisions on what they wish to be and believe.

goddess1prevail at 9:35AM on Jun 12th 2008

6. "Luckily in America one can be anything he chooses"

an atheist creationist?

bigTuna at 9:37AM on Jun 12th 2008

7. "an atheist creationist?"

Maybe... the being that created the universe is long dead?

Ryan Anderson at 9:39AM on Jun 12th 2008

8. "Luckily in America one can be anything he chooses"

an atheist creationist?

Haven't met one yet but I wouldn't discount the possibiblites. Like I said this is America.

goddess1prevail at 9:53AM on Jun 12th 2008

9. I think this is one of D'Souza's better postings. Seems that a general feel for the people gathers we are in agreement here.

Basically we can say Amen.

I won't write long and hard, namely because my fingers are not wanting the prolonged impact against the oily and rather unsavory keyboard.

I will allow this to amuse you, although I shed tears this morning because of people's suffering.

I learned that being able to smile sincerely, even if the pain hurts, is a sign that I have something to look forward to. Otherwise why would I be smiling when I'm suffering.

So... to keep it short in spirit, much love and have a good day.

Toodles. God Bless.

mincpa at 10:23AM on Jun 12th 2008

10. Every Methodist minister I know would answer the question, yes.

But Dinesh, there are two versions of Creation in Genesis. Chapter 2 has God creating Adam, then creating the various animals before creating Eve.

In Chapter 1, God creates the Earth and all of the animals, then He creates Man to tend to the animals. A Methodist minister pointed out that the order in which the various species appear matches up with Darwin's theory. Thus, a God-fearing Chirstan MUST believe in Evolution.

And remember that Catholic schools, whether an elementary school or a graduate program at a university, teach Evolution in science classes. Creationism is left for religion and philosophy classes.

Kent at 10:44AM on Jun 12th 2008

11. I have never really understood why many Christians have a problem with the idea of evolution. Would they be more comfortable with the idea of intelligent life on other planets? Because if evolution is wrong and we bear no relationship to the apes, that means the existence of life alot like ourselves on other planets is much more likely. Think about it: We share 98% of our DNA with the apes. Both apes and Homo-sapiens have four fingers and an opposable thumb, identical internal anatomy and orangutans enen have the same number of ribs! If all these similarities can occur independently without evolution, that greatly increases the likelihood that life very similar to ourselves exists elsewhere. Evolution is what makes us special and unique!

Keith J. Mohrhoff at 10:33AM on Jun 12th 2008

12. Gah! The MG4 PS3's are sold out, and Rock Band totally stole my music video idea! I can't catch a break!

Mokele Mbembe at 10:33AM on Jun 12th 2008

13. Kent; I see your point about the order of god creating the animals in the first genesis story.

However, he creates plants before he creates the sun.

Ryan Anderson at 11:01AM on Jun 12th 2008

14. I think that you really lean one way or the other. It seems almost impossible to embrace both Darwinism and Creationism with the same fervor.

If you believe that god went "POOF" and animals appeared, then it would seem hard to believe that we evolved all the way back to bacteria. I really think these two ideas are mutually exclusive.

CaptainCack at 11:02AM on Jun 12th 2008

15. I think a better question is: Is the Christian faith so weak the scientific Theory of Evolution poses a threat to it?

Do you think God is incapable of creating a system like evolution?

Why - if you already are willing to believe God created the world and everything in it in 6 days and then napped on the 7th - is it so hard to swallow that a great, timeless and infinite being we could never understand would have used evolution to tweak his creation? Why couldn't God have CREATED evolution? Personally, I think evolution is a perfect way to tie science in with Christian faith, especially for school age children who are going to hear about it in one form or another. Evolution is a fundamental part of biology and something a kid needs to understand no matter their religion, especially if they plan to go to college. I have several relatives who are doctors and nurses, and who all had to learn about evolution at some point in their studies. They are also staunch Christians and have never once had their faith shaken by evolution - and in fact, have claimed they came out of class an even bigger believer.

I think Christians should embrace evolution. The harder you fight against science, the more you push people away - especially the younger generation. You can believe God created everything and believe in Jesus and still believe in evolution. Genesis is the first book of the Bible, but it is only a small portion of a rather lengthy book, and I would argue that the more important message for the Christian faith would be that of God's love and forgiveness. Frankly, Christians are wasting their time, money, and energy fighting against evolution. Jesus gave you a mission. You have a message to spread, not a political war to wage.

K at 11:04AM on Jun 12th 2008

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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.