No middle ground between God, science
LETTERS LETTERS@USATODAY.COM
Infusing theology into science via concepts like “divine evolution” is no improvement to science, notwithstanding Tom Krattenmaker’s recent claims in USA TODAY’s column “Creationism support is at a new low.”
“Divine evolution” isn’t only wrong, it’s also intellectually dishonest and almost always hypocritical.
The scientific concept of evolution isn’t simply a collection of observations regarding changes in species or the frequencies of gene variants over time. It is also a theory — which is to say, an explanation.
And, unlike “divine evolution,” the scientific explanation is that evolution is an unplanned, unguided, natural process. Natural and supernatural explanations are inherently incompatible, no matter how much moderate theists may want to embrace both.
Although moderate Christians often disparage fundamentalist views, they too promote evolution by miracle. Invoking divine intervention to explain evolution is no more scientific (or credible) than is claiming that hurricanes are God’s punishment to strike the wicked.
In that respect, Williams Jennings Bryan, the creationist, antievolution prosecutor in the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, had it right: “One miracle is just as easy to believe as another.” Or, as defending attorney Clarence Darrow retorted: “Just as hard.”
“God did it” can explain anything, and hence explains nothing.
Supernatural explanations don’t improve science. They impede it. Gregory A. Clark Salt Lake City