DETROIT, Mich. — Via a commissioner’s resolution (CR), the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is being asked to consider designating the second Sunday in February (Charles Darwin’s birthday) as “Evolution Sunday.”
Evolution Sunday is defined in a letter that the commissioner’s resolution would like the GA endorse and send to its constituent congregations. The CR contends that the PCUSA would be expressing its close relationship with United Methodists, one Episcopal Church diocese, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America synod, and other pro-evolution clergy who have endorsed the idea.
The PCUSA’s Office of Theology and Witness as well as the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy have advised against the resolution.
Their advice reminds commissioners that the PCUSA has clear statements on the matter dating back to 1969 and incorporated in the denomination’s most recent Study Catechism in 1998.
“The assembly has spoken most clearly in the 1969 statement, ‘Evolution and the Bible,’ from the former PCUS, reaffirmed by the 214th General Assembly (2002). The statement affirms that there is no necessary contradiction between Christian faith as expressed in our church’s confessions and an affirmation of evolution as the means of creation. It does not go so far as to suggest Christians must affirm the scientific consensus on evolution: “Neither Scripture, our Confession of Faith, nor our catechisms, teach the creation of man by the direct and immediate acts of God so as to exclude the possibility of evolution as a scientific theory,” and that “it is not necessary to understand the Genesis account as a scientific description of Creation” (Minutes, PCUS, 1969, Part I, , p. 59, http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/theologyandworship/evolution/)
Question 27. Does your confession of God as Creator contradict the findings of modern science?
No. My confession of God as Creator answers three questions: Who?, How? and Why? It affirms that (a) the triune God, who is self-sufficient, (b) called the world into being out of nothing by the creative power of God’s Word (c) for the sake of sharing love and freedom. Natural science has much to teach us about the particular mechanisms and processes of nature, but it is not in a position to answer these questions about ultimate reality, which point to mysteries that science as such is not equipped to explore. Nothing basic to the Christian faith contradicts the findings of modern science, nor does anything essential to modern science contradict the Christian faith. …
The rationale of the resolution states that, “Evolution has been wrongly viewed in some Christian communities as contrary to Christian beliefs. As a scientific theory based solidly on extensive scientific evidence, it has shaped our thinking in the natural sciences and has become the underlying theory for numerous medical advances. As a scientific theory it does not contradict the existence of God, but can be seen as a natural, creative process in God’s creation.”
The letter reads:
“Within the community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and disagreement, including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible — the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark — convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts.
“We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as ‘one theory among others’ is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth.”
This CR has been assigned to Committee 13 and appears as item 13-09 on the assembly agenda.
The PCUSA General Assembly is meeting in Detroit through June 21.
6 Comments. Leave new
If they want to celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday, which is in February and thus in the midst of yucky winter weather, why not also celebrate John Calvin’s birthday – July 10? Then people could have picnics, softball games, even fireworks if they so desire.
While I love science and the way that it informs me and my faith, I could never endorse an overture which contains the following: “We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth….”
Just think about that statement for a moment. It is basically saying that “evolution” is an element of faith worth “believing” in. This is confessional language.
Now I realize the PC(USA) is doing a fine job (sic) of ignoring our Confessions, but this elevates “theory” to the level of truth, and if it is true— it no longer remains a theory.
Of course many people have elevated evolution to the level of “truth,” even though, it remains, an unproven theory. It shares this distinction along with the “Big Bang.” Both have never be unequivocally proven. At least the “Big Bang” was theorized by a Catholic Priest. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre)
Yes, evolution does seem to be “a foundational scientific truth,” at least for the time being. This last qualifier is simply to say that from time to time scientific theories are overtaken by larger and even grander theories which account for even more data than the earlier theories and, sometimes, include quite different understandings of how things work and relate.
But to say that “the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist” is an interesting and unsupported assertion. For instance, the Bible indicates that God created the world for a reason, so that it has a purpose, a goal, and direction. Evolution, on the other hand, understands life to be entirely reactive to stimuli, so this understanding excludes from the beginning and entirely any notion of goal or direction to life and therefore any notion of purpose or meaning. Evolution does not and cannot move toward anything; it only responds. These two understandings seem to be completely opposite and not to coexist comfortably.
Do aimlessness and purposelessness seem to be an accurate description of human life? Do they form part of an understanding of life that seems to cohere with the gospel?
Moreover, evolution strongly suggests, though it does not quite require, that someday our descendants will no longer be human. The other possibilities are that we have so conquered our environment that there is no longer any pressure on us to evolve, which seems unlikely, or that we shall annihilate ourselves, so that we have no descendants. The more likely scenario is that, just as our ancestors were not human, someday our descendants will no longer be human. I do not hear much conversation about this. But what does this mean? What implications does that have, for instance, for the doctrine of incarnation, by which we believe and understand that the Son of God became human and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth? Shall our children be excluded from the saving work of Christ?
When people say that they truths of the Bible and of the theory of evolution can “comfortably coexist,” I have to wonder whether they have thought through some of the implications and questions involved.
No surprise here. The only thing that will save the Presbyterian Church is for the PCUSA is to dissolve and smaller denominations to emerge. Maybe then the Bible will be recognized as God’s inerrant and infallible Word.
Evolution cannot bridge the gap from something to life. It cannot bridge the gap between life and humanity — that is, self-conscious human life with a free will. Therefore, I reject evolution with all my being. I do not believe that evolution is the answer to the origin of this universe.
As a high school and college student in the 1950’s I actually remember “Evolution” being discussed as a ” Theorum” (theory) once in high school and twice in college Biology. Theorums were presented as possible truth ideas followed by extensive searches for evidence to prove or dis-prove the positions taken.
My question is ” What has been discovered since the 1950’s that absolutely proves the Theorum of Evolution
to be a True Fact ?”. The answer is, ” ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ! “. So…..it must still be an unproved theory
and therefore pure error….or outright prevarications (lies).
What do you think ?