On
February 11, the day after the 198th birthday of Charles Darwin, hundreds of churches around
the world will celebrate Evolution Sunday. In worship, these churches
will lift up the compatibility of faith and science. Evolution Sunday was
initiated by Dr. Michael Zimmerman, dean of the College
of
“There
is nothing hostile to Christianity in evolutionary biology, in the least,” says
Dr. Joan Roughgarden. She’s a professor of evolutionary biology and
geophysics at Stanford University, and an active member of St. Gregory of
Nyssa Episcopal Church in San
Francisco. Her new book, “Evolution and
Christian Faith”, is a short, straightforward exposition of a subject that has
drawn much media attention in recent years.
The
latest version of “creationism” is “intelligent design”, which claims that
certain complex biological functions could not possibly have arisen through the
process of random mutation. While almost all evolutionary biologists oppose
teaching this so-called “theory” in schools, few have been able to succinctly
explain evolution to non-scientists, much less to people of faith. Dr.
Roughgarden was concerned that there were few voices sympathetic to religion
that could effectively challenge “intelligent design” as it gained
respectability through the rhetoric of the Bush administration. Some
scientists like Richard Dawkins, with whom Roughgarden has publicly debated,
have used the controversy as fuel for a movement to discredit religion
altogether. “But Dawkins does not speak for evolutionary biology. If
anything, most scientists in the field are agnostics, not atheists.”
Some religious people worry that the
“random” element of mutation is a threat to the possibility of divine purpose
and meaning in life. “Evolutionary theory does not assert that the
complexity of life is a ‘mere random process,’” Dr. Roughgarden says. “It
asserts only that the mutation process is random, not that evolution as a whole
lacks direction. Saying that mutation is random has nothing to do with whether
evolutionary change is unfolding according to God’s design.”
Roughgarden,
the daughter of Episcopal missionaries in the Philippines, grew up in a way that
helped her keep seeming contradictions in balance. “Living among so many
Muslim people on the island of Mindanao, I saw how
vital it is for people of different religions and cultures to coexist
peacefully.”
Not
only can religion and science get along together, they can be mutually
supportive, she believes. In her book, Roughgarden draws on the images of
the Bible to illustrate the science behind the theory of evolution. “The
story of Jacob and Laban and the color of their sheep (Genesis chapters 30 and
31) gives a largely correct account of natural breeding. And Jesus’
parable of the seeds that were scattered on different kinds of soil (Mark
chapter 4) is a story that illustrates randomness in addition to natural
selection because some plants thrived on the soil they happen to land on while
others withered. St. Paul’s repeated
statement that ‘we are one body’ (Romans chapter 12) is a good metaphor for the
fact that all life is related.”
Dr. Roughgarden will be the preacher
at Sausalito Presbyterian Church on Sunday, February 11, during 9:30 am worship.
For a listing of other churches around the country and world that are
participating in Evolution Sunday, see The Clergy
Project's website.