Pleasure to read well-crafted letters on humanism, evolution and religion
FAITH in Science.
It was a pleasure to read John Catt’s well crafted letter (Humanism does not meet the usual definition [of religion] as set out in the Oxford English, (Letters May 3).
Professor Mary Midgley has studied, and written extensively on such matters. “Marxism and evolutionism, the two great faiths of our day, display all these religious-looking features... Is there some plain, simple mark by which we can establish their non-religious character? This really is not so easy a question as it may look.
It is certainly not enough to say that they do not involve belief in God. Taoism does not do this either, nor does Buddhism in its original form. (Evolution as a Religion: Strange Hopes and Stranger Fears. Routledge Classics, 1985,p. 15.)
Mr Catt quoted the British Humanist Association, “...a Humanist is someone who trusts to the scientific method when it comes to understanding how the universe works.”
Professor Midgley has also examined this question. “People like T.H. Huxley meant by ‘science’ a vast interpretive scheme which could shape the spiritual life, a faith by which people might live. This faith was a competitor with existing religious faiths, not a way of having no faith at all.” (Science as Salvation: A Modern Myth and Its Meaning, Routledge, 1992, Page 52).
But what of the status of Evolution? Dr. Colin Patterson, when working at the Natural History Museum, wrote a textbook on Evolution.
“Taking the first part of the theory, that evolution has occurred, it says that the history of life is a single process of species splitting and progression. This process must be unique and unrepeatable like the history of England. This part of the theory is therefore a historical theory, about unique events, and unique events are, by definition, not part of science, for they are unrepeatable and so not subject to test”. (Evolution, Routledge & Keegan Paul, 1978, p. 145).
At room temperature and atmospheric pressure, hydrogen is a colourless, odourless gas, which burns with a pale blue flame. Science, so far. If one has faith in the Big Bang, hydrogen was the first element to condense out of the intense radiation. Given enough time, it turns into human beings. The belief is known as ‘Plasma to People’, ‘Hydrogen to Humans’ or ‘Molecules to Men’. Echoing Colin Paterson, “these are unique events, and unique events are, by definition, not part of science, for they are unrepeatable, and so not subject to test.”
In another skilfully written text, David Paterson gave us an eloquent, invaluable testimony as to his faith. (Not divisive- but insights we can share..., Letters May 3). “Then the contribution of Christianity in our world is not a divisive claim to a supernatural truth”.
However, external commentators point out that the essence of Christianity is that the foundational works of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are supernatural.
G. Richard Bozarth, wrote a carefully researched article called ‘The Meaning of Evolution’, including references to the New Testament, and John Calvin’s book ‘Institutes of the Christian Religion’. “Christianity, if it is to survive, must have Adam and the original sin and the fall from grace, or it cannot have Jesus the redeemer who restores to those who believe what Adam’s disobedience took away.” American Atheist, February 1978 pages 19 and 30).
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