Episode 178. In courses in Science and Religion, there is nearly always a section on the modern origins to date, and this indeed is a very fascinating topic. Today, in both the United States and Canada, there's a significant number of people who are suspicious of biological evolution. And as we'll see, the hermits of Genesis 1 to 11 plays a critical role in determining the view of origins held by an individual. In particular, whether one accepts scientific concordism and historically concordism. In Genesis 1 to 11 we'll certainly determine the view of origins held by different people. With every new section of this course, we begin with some key thoughts. Key thought number one, Anti-evolutionism is alive and well in the United States and Canada. A Gallup poll conducted 12 times between 1982, and 2014 reveals, that 43 to 47% of Americans accept, God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. Clearly, this rejects human evolution. In Canada, an Angus Reid Poll in 2012 found that 39% of Canadians reject or are uncertain that human beings evolved from less advanced forms over millions of years. Again, this is evidence that a significant percentage of people reject human evolution. Another Angus Reid poll, this time from 2007, discovered that 42% of Canadians accept dinosaurs and humans coexisted and 21% were not sure. In other words, only 37% of Canadians are aware of the scientific fact that we did not live at the same time as dinosaurs. Obviously, our public education needs to correct this situation. Key Thought Number 2, let's consider some factors contributing to anti-evolutionism. As we've just noted, there is a problem with public education, it rarely deals with evolutionary biology or the hermeneutics of Genesis 1 to 11. In my opinion, both of these topics should be dealt with in high school. Another factor fueling anti-evolutionism is, the American fundamentalist and Evangelical Protestant tradition, this Christian tradition is steeped in Concordist hermeneutics. For example, an ABC Prime Time poll in 2004 reveals that, 87% of US evangelicals believe that, the six day creation in Genesis one and the global flood of Noah in Genesis six to nine are literally true, meaning it happened that way word for word. It's worth pointing out that this fundamentalists and evangelical protestant tradition is aggressive and politically powerful. It has a long history of attempting to put anti-evolutionism in public schools. And as a result we should not be surprised that there is a lot of anti-evolutionary views in the culture. And finally Key Thought number 3, Anti-Evolutionism fuels the Origins Dichotomy. Most people believe there really exists an Evolution vs Creation Debate. But of course, within the scientific community, no such debate exists because, nearly all scientists accept evolution. Over the years, I found that the best way to challenge anti-evolutionism, and in particular, the so-called evolution versus creation debate, is to introduce various categories on the origin of the universe and life. Please turn to page 51 in the class handouts for the chart outlining five basic origins positions. Young Earth Creation, Progressive Creation, Evolutionary Creation, Diastic Evolution and Distelelogical Evolution. Of course there are more than five views of origins, but these are the most important. And if you master these, I guarantee you will have a very good understanding of origins. We will examine each of these 5 views of origin in light of the 14 categories on the left margin. Let's begin with the first six. First, whether or not a position accepts tenology in other words, does the world have an ultimate plan, or purpose, or final goal? Next we'll consider intelligent design, does the world point to a designer? This is followed by an origins position on the age of the universe and the evolution of life. And most importantly the chart distinguishes between God's activity in the origin of the universe and life, and God's activity in the lives of men and women. Continuing with the rest of the categories on the left hand side of the chart, we will present the view of the Bible held by the different positions on origins. In particular, we'll focus on characteristics of Genesis 1 to 11 and whether or not an origins position accepts spiritual correspondence, scientific concordism, or historical concordism. The chart also deals with the basic interpretation of Genesis of 1 to 11. Next we will examine the always challenging issue of the origin of humanity, and also the cosmic fall. In closing, the chart presents the basic theology or philosophy of each view of origins, as well as its approach to ethics. And I will offer an example of a prominent person representing each position. I need to make few more comments about the chart, there is a Christian bias on the chart, why is this the case? It's because Christians are the people who are behind most of the anti-evolutionism and the origins that economy and culture, but this chart is applicable to other religions. Just remove the Christian categories and then put in the categories of your religious tradition. As you proceed through the chart, to choose and combine different categories is perfectly acceptable, the result will be that you created new position. Finally, it's worth noting that we could agnostics as two more positions on this chart. For example religious agnostics, people who are uncertain about the existence of god, and also scientific agnostics, individuals who are uncertain about evolution. And one final comment about the chart the key categorical concept to understanding origins deals with divine action. It's very important that we separate and don't conflate God's activity in the origins of the universe and life, from God's activity in the lives of men and women. In other words, we need to distinguish cosmological divine action and origins, from personal divine action in relationships. And once we do, we can make an informed decision about God's activities and origins, and God's activity in our life. End of episode.
