This past weekend, at the Winter Encouragement Homeschool Conference, we laid out our vision for taking back the sciences.
Remember the illustration of the rough-legged hawk? Our evolutionist friend, inspired by the form and function of the buteo’s beak and talons, attempts a brief but challenging evolutionary explanation. He stumbles, he stutters, he inadvertently succumbs to the appearance of design despite his years of training.*
Why? Because we all want to assign designing rights to someone. We cannot help it – it is part of who we are!
Across town, while we were gathered together, the Palouse Coalition of Reason was holding their own event, in honor of Charles Darwin.
Why bother bringing this up? We all know that evolutionary theory has been broadly embraced as the unifying concept in biology and now throughout virtually all of the “sciences.” We know that academics by and large and the secular science institutions (mostly government funded) that support them place their faith in Darwin’s progeny.
When it comes to science, we know that they have won the day. Or have they?
Let’s look back at our heritage a bit. One of our six big objectives at HIS, Inc. is to remind you of the scientist believers of the past. As HIS, Inc. board member, Dr. Gordon Wilson shared with us this past weekend, many, many of the biologists of the past were scientists and Creationists as well. Their work in the sciences was an outgrowth of their faith. Rather than compartmentalize science over here and faith over there, they embraced the conclusions that their faith-supported science brought them to. Our biology really is our theology!
Remember Carrol Von Linne (aka Carol Linnaeus), the man who developed binomial nomenclature and the taxonomic system still used in biology today? In the title page to his ultra-famous and revered Systema Naturae, he quoted Psalm 104:24 – “Oh lord how manifold are they works in wisdom thou hast made them all the earth is full of thy riches.”
The father of modern taxonomy went on to say, “the observer of nature sees with admiration that the whole world is full of the glory of God.” We are in good company.
We are working together (with you) to take back the sciences. As a wise man once said, “We cannot do anything alone – it is not possible. We are here for relationship!” As we take on this exciting challenge and opportunity we must take care to cultivate a charitable reaction to those who disagree with or even quite honestly hate us for our perspective.
When this happens, remember that we are standing on the shoulders of giants, including Linnaeus, John Ray, and others. More importantly, remember that the rocks cry out and we are given the glorious task of studying them!
Psalm 111:2 Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them!
*Highly recognized proponents of evolution have famously slipped up in this fashion from time to time, including Richard Dawkins when interviewed for Ben Stein’s film, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.”
