Sunday, April 12, 2009

Shall the Fundamentalists Win?

Stained glass window depicting the empty tomb at a church in L.A. - Inscription says - "He is not here, he is risen!"
Copyright (c) 2006 Wendee Holtcamp


I just stumbled on this 1922 sermon, later published as a booklet, written by Presbyterian Minister Harry Emerson Fosdick, "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?: Defending Liberal Protestantism in the 1920s," while researching my book (on making peace between evolution and Christianity, which by the way is due very soon - agghhhh!!!) All I have to say is wow, wow, wow!! What a powerful and profound message, and also very interesting given that this took place nearly a century ago. It outlines some of the same controversies of fundamentalism vs modernist/liberal thought, and science versus religion.

Fosdick was investigated and later resigned from the Presbyterian Church after publishing this, but soon became a minister at a Baptist church, and then founded Manhattan's Riverside church. This was just three years before the Scopes Monkey Trial, and one of the Presbyterians promoting the opposing view of fundamentalism was the attorney in that trial – William Jennings Bryan.

Here are some quotes from the sermon that resonated with me:

"Science treats a young man’s mind as though it were really important. A scientist says to a young man, “Here is the universe challenging our investigation. Here are the truths which we have seen, so far. Come, study with us! See what we already have seen and then look further to see more, for science is an intellectual adventure for the truth.” Can you imagine any man who is worthwhile turning from that call to the church if the church seems to him to say, “Come, and we will feed you opinions from a spoon. No thinking is allowed here except such as brings you to certain specified, predetermined conclusions. These prescribed opinions we will give you in advance of your thinking; now think, but only so as to reach these results."

"...the Fundamentalists are giving us one of the worst exhibitions of bitter intolerance that the churches of this country have ever seen."

"...there is one thing I am sure of: courtesy and kindliness and tolerance and humility and fairness are right. Opinions may be mistaken; love never is."

"...there are multitudes of reverent Christians who have been unable to keep this new knowledge in one compartment of their minds and the Christian faith in another. They have been sure that all truth comes from the one God and is His revelation"

"...for the sake of intellectual and spiritual integrity, that they might really love the Lord their God, not only with all their heart and soul and strength but with all their mind, they have been trying to see this new knowledge in terms of the Christian faith and to see the Christian faith in terms of this new knowledge."

This was written just 3 years before the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial and during a time at which there existed a huge controversy between "modernists" and "fundamentalists" within the Presbyterian Church, which made up around 25% of Christians at that time. The split affected many other denominations as well, and led to the decline of Presbyterianism in the U.S. I was actually researching the history of the term fundamentalist, which is when I learned about this whole history - fascinating!! Fundamentalism arose at the Niagara Bible Conferences which were held annually from 1876-1897 where a fourteen-point creed was developed, and later distilled at the 1910 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to 5 fundamentals of the Christian faith:

  • Inerrancy of the Scriptures

  • The virgin birth and the deity of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14)

  • The doctrine of substitutionary atonement by God's grace and through human faith (Hebrews 9)

  • The bodily resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28)

  • The authenticity of Christ's miracles (or, alternatively, his pre-millennial second coming)

I actually hold to a fairly conservative ("fundamental") belief in all of these things other than the pre-millennial second coming (I believe that the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod which I attend does not hold that belief either and they're a fairly conservative church). I don't necessarily agree with inerrancy of Scripture. Well, that all depends on how you define it, as there's a whole history around the use of that term, and it didn't even arise until this conference in 1910!!! Yet so many churches use that as "fundamental" to faith. I believe the Bible is the Word of God, and is useful for teaching... and so much more. Its history in coming together is very interesting. I think that some things will always remain holy mysteries this side of heaven. It's also pretty ironic that the Presbyterian Church today is definitely not fundamentalist!

Regardless, the fact that the controversy between science and religion, and conservative/fundamental versus progressive/liberal thought has occurred for so long is just fascinating....Now besides merely defining the fundamentals of the faith, the fundamentalists of that era did more, as they do today. They mixed in political and anti-science thought with the religious ideals. They opposed evolution, and (in effect) opposed educational learning about things like Biblical scholarship as they believed it led people away from the faith. Just think, demanding and requesting people not learn so their faith would not be weakened or lost. What kind of religion or faith can be lost by learning? That is a weak faith indeed, not much worthy of following. I believe Christianity holds up to scrutiny and I say to education of all manner - whether Biblical history, science, or any such thing -bring it on! We need Christians to be more educated about their own religion. We need society more educated about this faith that has so influenced America, Europe, and the world.

I leave with the question: have the fundamentalists win? Shall we let them?

Cross-posted at Bohemian Adventures blog

PS Hope you had a blessed Easter!!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Awesome video



Please all Christians watch this awesome and funny video of a Christian to other Christian on why you should listen to the expertise of REAL scientists - ie evolutionary biologists!

IN fact check out his whole "channel" - I haven't watched any of his other videos but I'll be back to check them out! http://www.youtube.com/user/DonExodus2

I will post some links to blogs etc on the Texas State Board of Education results from the past 3 days testimony and voting of the Board on science standards. It's a mixed bag.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Not on the Test

Check out this fantastic song/video by Grammy winner Tom Chapin, Not on the Test. It aired on NPR and is a sarcastic song about the problems with standardized testing, sung to his 3rd grade son. Check it out: http://www.notonthetest.com

Here is one stanza of lyrics, mid-song


Each box that you mark on each test that you take,
Remember your teachers, their jobs are at stake.
Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed.
They'd never teach anything not on the test.

And here's an article in NY Teacher, Union fights the trend that starts with teaching to the test.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

God spot and White House science advisors

Just wanted to post a couple links. I came across this article today in the Daily Mail newspaper online, and found it interesting.
Scientists discover the brain's 'God spot'... and show that faith helps human survival.

The only thing that annoys me about the journalist's reporting of the story, and possibly inherent in the research (I haven't read the scientific papers themselves so can't remark) is in this sentence in the article: "Scientists, philosophers and theologians continue to argue about whether religious belief is a biological or a sociological phenomenon."

Why is it an either/or proposition? It's NOT.

Second I wanted to express my complete excitement when I got an email over a listserv I've long been a member of, ECOLOG-L (sci.bio.ecology) talking about the Obama administration inducting zoologist Jane Lubchenco as NOAA advisor and former AAAS president (American Association for the Advancement of Science) John Holdren as White House Science Advisor. I saw this and thought, wow how exciting that a scientist whose marine ecosystem work I read about in my Biology 101 textbook back in 1989 or so is now being inducted in the Obama admin! How cool to not have industry cronies advising the White House on science! But then I also saw that some Senator has placed an "anonymous hold" on them... and I am not sure what that means, exactly, but UGH! Here's a link to a blog post on the hold:

http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2009/03/science_advisor_and_noaa_admin.php

Friday, February 20, 2009

quotes on truth

I am writing, and revising, my chapter on truth - how we come to believe what we do. I've come across some fantastic quotes I thought I'd share here.

There are truths, that are beyond us, transcendent truths, about beauty, truth, honor, etc. There are truths that man knows exist, but they cannot be seen - they are immaterial, but no less real, to us. It is only through the language of myth that we can speak of these truths. - J. R. R. Tolkien

Only through myth, through story telling can we aspire to the life we were made for with God. To write and/or read myth was to meditate on the most important truths of life. – JRR Tolkien

"No doubt those who really founded modern science were usually those whose love of truth exceeded their love of power." -- CS Lewis, The Abolition of Man

"And then she understood the devilish cunning of the enemies' plan. By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger." -- CS Lewis The Last Battle (this has got to be the most insightful quote ever - so apropos to intelligent design!)

"To admire Satan [in Paradise Lost] is to give one's vote not only for a world of misery, but also for a world of lies and propaganda, of wishful thinking, of incessant autobiography." --CS Lewis, A Preface to Paradise Lost

"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it." - Pascal.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The E Word: a playground adaptation


Just wanted to give a quick shout out to the blog for the upcoming play by Sharon Sparlin, who I met at the November 2008 hearings at the State Board of Education in Austin. The play looks riotously funny - I've seen the "treatment" which takes place between young kids (the young Charlie - aka Charles Darwin and Emma). Check out the E Word blog: http://www.theewordplay.blogspot.com/. She also links back to my blog, as well as several other fantastic science blogs out there.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Colbert on evolution

A brief interruption in programming to share something funny.

“Evolution is that like, millions and billions of years of mutations and recombinations and cosmic rays knock something out of one DNA so when the mitosis or myosis or whatever –osis come together something else happens and the fur falls off and suddenly King Kong is a man?”


– Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report.