Intelligent Design Is Rotten Theology, Too
by tristero
I've been saying this for years: Intelligent Design Creationism is rotten theology which diminishes, even trivializes, the notion of God. While I'm glad to see that others have also started to figure this out. I also agree with many of Jason Rosenhouse's criticisms of Hess's article. Rather than rehash his criticisms, I want to focus on something Dr. Rosenhouse says towards the end of his post. I think it has crucial implications for the cultural war with the rightwing over evolution, even if it's something no one involved in them wants to hear:There is so much more to Christian faith than just a belief in God. The Bible itself tells us that in contemplating nature people are “without excuse” for rejecting the existence of God. From the perspective of the Biblical writers, that God existed was regarded as something so obvious as to hardly be the sort of thing that needed proof. The emphasis on faith was directed towards believing that Jesus had accepted the punishment for our sins. Thinking that complex adaptations point toward God hardly leaves you with no need for faith in accepting Christianity.
Exactly: for religious people, the existence of God is so trivially obvious it doesn't require proof. It follows from that that a mere scientific theory can't possibly challenge the reality of God's existence. God's existence is beyond faith - and beyond something as humanly specific as "belief" - it is axiomatic. The notion of what's meant by "faith" focuses more on the belief in the crucial importance of Jesus's mission and his dual status, both human and divine.
What all this means in terms of the evolution wars is that the issue of the existence or non-existence of God is almost completely meaningless. Sure, say, and feel, "God exists." You can even argue proofs if you want. Whatever. It doesn't have much bearing on understanding (ie, accepting) the details of evolutionary theories. That's because the existence of God couldn't possibly be a subject for anything other than the most academic kinds of speculations, like proving that 1+1 always equals 2. Evolutionary theory in no way comes close to challenging that fundamental notion (although evolution does challenge other ones less fundamental, like specific origin stories).
Or sure, say, and feel, "God doesn't exist." You can even argue proofs if you want. Whatever. But likewise, there are no practical implications for understanding evolution.
Here are two real world examples of the meaninglessness of the question of God's existence for the evolution debate. Exhibit A: Kenneth Miller. Exhibit B: PZ Myers. Both are first-rate scientists and thinkers whose expertise in evolutionary theory is beyond dispute. For one, Miller, God exists. For the other, Myers, God doesn't. Anyone who agrees with PZ and thinks Miller is an intellectual lightweight by being both Catholic and an evolutiionary biologist needs only to read his testimony in the Kitzmiller trial; Miller knows exactly what he's talking about, and is far more knowledgeable and nuanced about it than just about anyone around. LIkewise, anyone who agrees with Miller and thinks PZ is cold-hearted and soulless needs only to read the truly astonishing posts on biological science and evolution available on Pharyngula to understand that this is someone who confronts the natural world with a highly developed sense of amazement, awe, and wonder. (And on a personal level, if you're lucky enough to spend some time with PZ Myers (and you're not a creationist), you'll soon realize that he is a very kind soul. Or, as he may prefer, very kind person. Whatever.)
As I see it, the cultural war over evolution concerns primarily one issue: the interpretation of texts, specifically religious texts.* Rightwing christianists** insist that their interpretation, an interpretation that thoroughly contradicts scientific reality, is somehow a "literal" reading of the Bible. That is complete nonsense. There is no such thing as a literal reading of a book (actually, many books and miscellaneous other texts) as complex and self-contradictory as the Bible. The Bible clearly defies simplistic interpretations like those of the creationists. It is amazing, and amazingly stupid, that anyone ever lets them get away with asserting that they are telling the "truth" about the Bible. After all, let's not forget that "What is truth?" is a question that is, quite literally (heh!), left unanswered in the Bible.
The beginning of the end of this idiotic cultural war starts by refusing to permit the rightwing to claim they somehow are reading the Bible literally, that they have anything close to a lock on its meaning. No one, or if you prefer, no one human does. Arguments about how evolution disproves the existence of God, or doesn't, are only important to the extent they distract us from focusing on this. It is a monumentally meaningless discussion.
Nothing you can say to a religious person will convince them that God doesn't exist. And vice versa, for those who can't understand how anyone can "believe" in the existence of God. The few people who change their mind simply prove the general point (and, btw, those who change their mind about God's existence based on evolution are a tiny subset of that already small group). The real issue lies elsewhere, in the interpretation of religious texts. In addition to making what evolution is about as clear as possible, we simply must effectively and relentlessly refuse to permit the rightwing to get away with the claim that they, and only they, have an accurate, literal, and true reading of the Biblical texts.
h/t Why Evolution Is True.
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*Sure, creationists misunderstand Darwin, and it's always crucially important to correct them. But that's not what's front and center, imo. They wouldn't even care about Darwin if it weren't for their screwball interpretations of the Bible and the fact they get away with calling them "literal.".
**Rosenhouse is correct that creationism is also rampant in much cruddy theology from other religiously-based cultural/political movements, including Islamism and certain kinds of Orthodox Judaism (there are even atheists who think ID creationism is hot stuff), but in the US, it's the christianists that are the most salient.