[Mb-civic] Q&A on Intelligent Design

[Reeeees at aol.com]

A New Christianity for a New  World
Bishop John Shelby Spong on the News and Christian Faith 
 
Marion from Kansas  writes:
 
"In my state the Board of Education threw out  the teaching of evolution a 
few years ago. Upon election of moderate members,  the Board brought it back 
again. Now conservatives are in the majority again and  the whole issue of 
universe origin is being debated again. This time the issue  of "intelligent design" 
is being brought in as needing to be taught. Is this  just another way of 
bringing in conservative belief about instant  creation?"
 
Dear Marion,
 
On one level it really doesn't matter what the  Kansas Board of Education 
thinks, evolution is real and is not subject to  majority vote any more than 
whether epilepsy is caused by demon possession. Yet  it is embarrassing to live in 
a state where public ignorance can force people to  deny reality. It will 
also ill-equip the children of Kansas to live in the  modern world. Already 
American school children are far behind Asians in the  field of science. The 
pursuit of knowledge should never be compromised to  protect religious 
sensitivities. That is where religious tyranny  begins.
 
Intelligent Design is just one more smoke  screen. The task of geologists and 
anthropologists is to study the sources of  the life of this world. They 
should be free to follow wherever their scientific  research carries them. If 
Christianity is threatened by truth, it is already too  late to save it. Imagine 
worshiping a God so weak and incompetent that the  Kansas School Board must 
defend this God from science and new learning. It is  pitiful.
 
The challenge of Darwinian thinking to  traditional Christianity is deep and 
profound. That means that Christianity's  survival depends on its being big 
enough to embrace a post-Darwinian world. If  we cannot then Christianity will s
urely die. I do not believe that is the fate  toward which Christianity is 
headed unless it becomes that petty, small-minded  enterprise that must hide in 
ignorance and fear lest it be  destroyed.
 
I hope you and others will resist these tactics  at the ballot box. If that 
fails then you have to assess whether or not you want  your children to grow up 
in the environment that Kansas is creating. If not, you  might consider 
moving. I for one hope you will stay and fight for ignorance will  not prevail 
forever, even in Kansas.
 
_qna at johnshelbyspong.com_ (mailto:qna at johnshelbyspong.com) 

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