Science and Religion, Pt.1

I've recently bought a book on science and philosophy. In current discussions at the work place or, say, the dinner table, conversations about religion and science have been the ostensible topic of discussion. I've been listening to the theistic conversations, looking at different views within the evangelical and Reformed answers to the natural selection or Frame-work hypothesis, but none of the questions that the book Darwin's Dangerous Idea (Daniel C. Dennett) were raised.

Recently W. L. Craig debated a known scientist—a theist no less!—who holds to natural selection. In that debate, there was a lot of issues raised that I had not thought about, for one, the issue of common descent. Naturally I mused that the notion was clearly anti-theistisc, so I dismissed it altogether. This, however, is something that I think that Dr. Dennett raises—and embarrassingly I choked. He wrote, "On this occasion, we are not going to settle for 'There, there, it will all come out all right.' Our examination will take a certain amount of nerve. Feelings may get hurt. Writers [like the present writer] on evolution usually steer clear of this apparent clash between science and religion (22)." Clearly, if God is the creator of the world, students like myself should not be afraid to take a look at writers who are clearly presuppositionally opposed to theism, for they could even provide quintessential information, be that mathematics, biology, etc. Reality and trust exists outside the mind, but now I'm venturing into a philosophical area ("Mind") that I think has to be resolved by epistemologists. Howbeit that this notion of external reality exists, it gives us, you and me, valuable and sailable information about the world as it is. If God really did create the world—and since truth is not only in the minds of pious people—that world should exhibit his design.

Dennett, Daniel C. 1995. Darwin's Dangerious Idea. New York: Simon & Schuster.