Statement of Objectives for an Evangelical Statement on Evolution

Steve Martin, over at An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution has drafted some objectives that are needed to delineate an evangelical statement on evolution. A draft statement like this is long overdue and, as a Christian, I have been delinquent in putting up a statement of faith even on my own blog. I think it needs to be something without the snideness of the "Project Steve" statement on the NCSE, though, and more like the "Clergy Letter" Project, which now has over 11 thousand signatures. That letter says, in part:

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator.

The DI was typical in their response to the Clergy Letter when it first came out:

The Discovery Institute, however, discounts the clergy letter. "Religion is irrelevant to the issue," says Robert L. Crowther II, director of communications for the institute. The beliefs of clergy members, he says, do not alter the evidence for intelligent design in DNA and biological cells.

That would be true if the DI were only about DNA and biological cells, but it is constantly working to subvert the teaching of evolution at the behest of creationist interests. Oh, and by the way, it sure blows your little list out of the water!