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Date:      Tue, 10 Sep 2002 13:53:19 -0700 (PDT)
From:      "Neal E. Westfall" <nwestfal@directvinternet.com>
To:        Joshua Lee <yid@softhome.net>
Cc:        chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Why did evolution fail?
Message-ID:  <20020910134238.T35938-100000@Tolstoy.home.lan>
In-Reply-To: <20020910152132.1134e18d.yid@softhome.net>

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On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, Joshua Lee wrote:

> > Since you like Teilhard De Chardin so much, do you agree with the
> > statement of his that defenders of evolution "must never let
> > themselves be deflected into secondary discussions of the scientific
> > 'hows' and the metaphysical 'whys.'"  Sounds like dogmatism to me.
>
> Yes, but De Chardin was as well as being a paleologist a theologian; who
> did let the two mix. Don't ask me to defend all of his theology, I don't
> agree with all of what little I know of it and I'm more familiar with
> Rav Kook, whom I'm also not a follower of (mostly due to his stances on
> Zionism) but I've studied his works; than De Chardin. However, your
> claim that he's "not a xtian" seems specious because the Pope, a bit of
> an authority on the subject, seemed to think he was. :-)

What would make you think that the pope is an authority to anyone who
is not Roman Catholic?


> > W.T. Jones, who is certainly no Christian, noticed that scientists had
> > "elevated Darwinism to the level of a religious dogma." (from his "A
> > History of Western Philosophy")  Theodosius Dobzhansky claims to be
> > able to explain evolution "if the assumption is made that life arose
> > from matter only once." ("Species after Darwin," A Century of Darwin
> > (London: 1958), p. 22.)  W.R. Thompson says in his Introduction to a
> > current edition of Origin of Species "Personal convictions... are
> > presented as if they were proofs."  Paul Westmeyer declares:
> > "Evolution is useful but it is a myth." ("Twentieth Century
> > Mythology," Chemistry, January, 1965, p. 17)  Need I say more?
>
> Neal, be honest for a change, have you actually read these sources?

I never claimed to have read all those sources.  How is that relevent?
I was just demonstrating that I'm not the only one who thinks that
evolution takes on a religious persona by those who espouse it.  Oh,
and by the way, there you go again.  8-)


> > Uh, no.  Never said non-christians cannot reason.  I said that if they
> > were consistent with their professed beliefs, they would not *in
> > principle* be able to reason at all.  The fact that they *do* reason
> > is what makes them accountable to God.
>
> OK then, why would G-d give an ability to someone if it automatically
> damns most human beings to eternal torture with the measure, rather than
> how good the person is, to be where he happens to sit in the most
> segregated hour of the week?

Reason does not damn them, their sinful use of it without acknowledging
it as a gift from God is what damns them.  They claim not to know God,
but their reasoning ability is evidence to them that he does exist.


Neal



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