Your responses to my recent posts about evolution were so stimulating, I thought I’d add a few more comments and some suggested online reading. 

I liked what Leah (our biologist/young earth creationist) said about the importance of educating Christians about this issue. 

Leah wrote: “I've had several uncomfortable conversations with pastors who have decried the evils of evolution because when I was teaching labs in graduate school I taught evolution. I had to tell the pastor that after hearing his sermon, he's setting people up for a real problem. When the high school kids who heard him end up in my lab later on, what will they do with their faith when I prove to them that evolution occurs and is occurring all the time around them and that it's observable? So, we Christians need to be very careful how we approach scientific issues, or there can be very serious consequences!” 

I know what Leah means because when I first discovered the evidence that supports evolution, I started to worry that my whole faith was going to fall apart as a result. I’d been convinced that young earth creationism (absent of any evolution at all) was a fundamental tenant of the Christian faith and the only truly biblical position…so rather than simply questioning my approach to science, I questioned my entire faith in God. My biggest concern is that conservative evangelicals are setting young people up for significant faith crises by not educating them about the evidence. 

Great comments, everyone! We’ll pick this issue up again sometime. (I’d like to talk more about hermeneutical aspect at some point.)

In the meantime, you might want to check out Scot McKnight’s recent posts on The Jesus Creed: http://www.jesuscreed.org. This is one of my favorite blogs, and over the past few weeks Scot has been discussing The Language of God by Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Folks who post on his site are usually very thoughtful and very civil. I highly recommend it. 

Thanks for your thoughts, smart people! Feel free to keep posting your comments!