Evolve is such an interesting word.  Evolve involves change, adaptation, development and a whole bunch of other things.  But tell someone that they might have evolved from monkeys, and whoa, Nellie!  Them’s fightin’ words!  Many in the Christian community are openly offended when our public schools allow scientific theories over religious theories in their textbooks.  Sometimes even school boards split over such issues.

In 2004 some of the school board members (We’ll call them ID’s for Intelligent Design) in Dover, Pennsylvania became concerned with the (in their opinion) overwhelming references to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution in their science books.  They felt that God — make that the intelligent designer — should have equal time, especially since the students were already God-fearing kids.  Other board members (some of them churchgoers) disagreed (We’ll call them Darwinians) and took the position that, while they personally believed in God and all, it would be wrong to introduce anything other than scientific data in the classroom, thereby upholding the separation of church and state mandate.

The ID-ers proceeded to read statements in the science classes, saying that, as Darwin’s Theory was just a theory, then the kids ought to be aware that there may be other explanations to the beginning of life.  Also, a bunch of alternative school books showed up, called Of Pandas and People, giving just such an explanation.  The books were donated by an unknown source.

Anway, artwork was trashed, lives were threatened, words were slung and school board meetings were finally becoming interesting.

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Today is Resurrection day, the day commemorating Jesus’ reappearance from the grave.  Even with the changing landscape of church attendance and the reevaluation of some doctrines, some 82% of Americans still believe in the afterlife.  However, the writings of recent outspoken atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, are laying the groundwork for significant doubt in the minds of those who are questioning their religious heritage.  Scientists contribute to the dilemma by being unable to recreate, in a controlled environment, the miracles documented by the Gospel writers, thereby denying their existence as fact.  Christian scholars, pastors and lay persons are mounting counterattacks in order to stabilize the church and revive foundering faiths.  For the most part, everything we believe is based upon a simple trust in the words of eyewitnesses from 2,000 years ago.  The human spirit is just that — spirit.  The root meaning for spirit is “breath.”   As long as we have breath, we have hope.  Life is too precious for it to end as nothingness.  Death is but a door.  The journey continues.  I’m going with the 82%.
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Death
Afterlife

Well, they’re at it again.  Armed with $3.1 million and a Large Hadron Collider, scientists have begun a three-year study to locate the elusive God particle.  So what if they find it?  Will people who don’t want God in their lives have it surgically removed?  “Religion cries out for a biological explanation.”  So, I guess, we have faith to fall back on if the religion experiment fails.  Neuroscientists have done previous studies of brain activity, finding no significant pattern between Christians and non-Christians exposed to religious material.  But this effort, called “Explaining Religion,” is touted to be the largest scientific study of its kind.  Sort of makes you wonder what God thinks of all of this.  Like, “Why don’t you spend that money on something more useful, like feeding the poor, or building them houses?”  Or, perhaps, “Why don’t you use those high-powered gadgets to cure disease?”  The study will also go outside the laboratory to analyze various databases as they relate to religious behavior.  Here’s a thought.  Everybody look around and see whose behaving very well, then be like them.  End of study.  Zero dollars spent.  “Big Father is watching you.”  Further studies have been, and will be, used to determine what kind of god God is.  Is he like us, capable of disappointment, sadness and anger, or is he above all that?  For my money, God is love.  He created us to love.  Jesus (his Son) said to even love our enemies.  Simple formula.  Needs willing people to execute.  Operating budget: $0.00.  Overall results: priceless.
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Science vs. Religion
Love

Want to know what to give up for Lent (if you’re starting late, that is)?  How about cutting back on carbon emissions, like plastic bags, electricity or driving?  The Christian charity, Tearfund, recommends that we go on carbon diets to show that we care.  And the Pope says that abuse of our environment is “against God’s will.”  What more can I say?  I’m still undecided on this global warming thing.  Both sides have reputable scientists in their camps, and they give pretty convincing arguments.  So what happens after Easter (the end of Lent)?  Can we go back to our gluttonous and apathetic ways?  I know that these seasonal campaigns are designed to draw attention, but I believe that many respond only temporarily in order to ease their guilty consciences.  Truth be known, we should all be more conscious and careful of all of God’s creation — including, and especially, how we treat each other.
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Lent
Greenhouse Gases
Tearfund

Was Moses hopped up on hallucinogens?  Was Abraham aware of an altered state?  Benny Shannon, from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University seems to think so.  And he claims that the ayahuasca plant still grows there!  Maybe that’s where the Israeli’s get their unusual courage.  Well, I still prefer to believe that God did and does intervene in various and wondrous ways.  And, while this was not necessarily a scientific swipe at the Biblical accounts, I’m disappointed that we spend so much money and effort on trying to prove that God doesn’t exist.  When we continue to do right by our families and neighbors, we are continually proving him over and over.  Otherwise, why bother? 
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Mount Sinai
Ayahuasca Plant

Mathemetician John Allen Paulos called the recent Beyond Belief 2.0 scientific conference “an unbeliever’s utopia, a heathen’s heaven, a pagan’s paradise.”  Another attendee name that caught my eye was introspective philosopher Patricia Churchland.  How’s that for a last name?  There must have been some faith in her husband’s ancestors.  With all of the intensive study of brain activity and sub-consciousness, here’s what blows my mind:  that they put so much effort into trying to disprove God.  Why do they do that?  Because, deep inside, they want to believe.  That’s how God made them.  The Psalmist writes, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”  God will always find us — even when we aren’t looking for him.
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John Allen Paulos
Patricia Churchland
God Vs. Science

For those that are getting tired of the ongoing creation vs. evolution debates, there’s now a third choice. Ex-minister Michael Dowd and his science writer wife, Connie Barlow (Why don’t couples want to share last names anymore?), are traveling the country with the message that you can have your billions of years and creation too. It just took God a lot longer than we previously thought. But I still have to ask, “If people lived for even millions of years, why did it take so long to advance to recorded history, just a scant 6,000 years ago?” Answer me that. Excuse me for the oversimplification, but doesn’t it boil down to a basic question of faith in God? And with such simple faith, wouldn’t we do well to learn how to love him and get along with the other 6.6 billion beings that we share this don’t-know-how-long-it’s-been-here ball that we all live on?
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The Debate
Rev. Michael Dowd