The public is invited to a talk and slide presentation on Evolution by Frederick M. Cohan, Wesleyan Professor of Biology, on Tuesday, November 30, at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Room at First Church of Christ, Congregational (UCC), 190 Court Street, in Middletown.
Dr. Cohan will begin by explaining how we can account for the diversity of life on earth through evolution. He will offer evidence for evolution, including how whales evolved from hippopotamus-like creatures, and describe two types of evolution (adaptation within lineages and the splitting of lineages) as well as how new species emerge. The talk will consider the controversy among biologists during the past century over whether it is difficult or easy for new species to form.
Finally, Dr. Cohan will offer some perspectives on how evolution can help us understand changes in culture, language, and religion.
For more information, call 860-346-6657 x13.
How can a church - namely the First Church of CHRIST - support and promote evolution as described here? The bible teaches us that creatures emerged from creatures like themselves "like for like". Is the story of Noah just a nice bedtime story for children according to this church? A whale from a hippo? Since when did science trump God's teaching? Does this church rely a little too heavily on science instead of faith? Methinks so.
ReplyDeleteThis shepherd is, unfortunately, misleading his own flock and is undermining God's own teachings - if he were practicing biblical doctrine of course...Mr. Hall is using the guise of being a pastor to further his own environmental agendas. There seems to be alot of contradictions here...
No contradictions. Science and faith can co-exist.
ReplyDeleteYou're basing your criticism on the idea that the Bible is he literal word of God and that your interpretation of the literal word is the absolute truth as it should be seen by everyone.
While you are certainly entitled to that interpretation (and I would never demean or begrudge you for having it), I hope you also understand that many people of faith, myself included, maintain another perspective.
It's our right to interpret the word of God as we see it that makes our nation so wonderful.
I respect your religious beliefs and opinions, though I don't share your literal interpretations. There is room at the table for all of us.
God created evolution, too. Why is that so hard to understand?
ReplyDeleteI believe that there is a natural progression of creation that still applies today. It is how everything becomes created. It all begins with thought. Simplified - God thought ... and it became manifested. So I do believe that God created this world we see around us. But that the actual manifestation of it took billions of years, and is STILL evolving today. I believe we can embrace both creationism and evolution - and that is one example of this life's grand divine dichotomies. I believe science proves what God has created. And too, while there are many truths found in the Bible, there are many stories that should not be taken literally.
ReplyDeleteThe first commenter is a prime example of why religion, particularly Christianity, has such a bad reputation among thinking people in this country today. We need scientifically-educated citizens to pull our society out of the morass into which the Christianist right keeps trying to drag it. First Church of Christ, Congregational, is an example of true Christianity. You can be a Christian and still think. The world needs to know that. When a newly-elected Republican Congressman who wants to chair the Energy Committee says that climate change can't be a fact because God promised in Genesis not to destroy the world (of course He didn't say He wouldn't let man destroy it), this country is in a very perilous state.
ReplyDeleteFaith springs from different wells and First Church "gets" that. It is a congregation that embraces diversity and then leads us all back to a common place. It's "open and affirming" in many ways.
ReplyDeleteThe people who come to First Church appreciate the environmental "agenda" of the Jonah Center for Earth and Art and enjoy learning and living in concert with our planet. I think God wants us to live in an eco-friendly way, don't you?
And yes, the church has historically embraced the idea that there is overlap between science and faith in God. That is another thing that folks in the congregation value and appreciate is that we explore that overlap.
If you don't like it, that's ok! Maybe you prefer a different kind of congregation and minister or rabbi or a faith leader. That's why there are different faiths, different houses of worship, different congregations.
Hopefully we can all still agree on some basic human principles like, let's be kind to one another and "live and let live" even in our differences. Maybe someday we will even evolve to embracing our differences!
Some brains are obviously more evolved than others. How else could you explain the phenomena of anyone giving credence to anything Glenn Beck says.
ReplyDeleteI like the Bill Cosby version of the Noah story.
And why haven't we seen (or heard) any burning bushes talking lately.
Whatever you believe, surely this is a fantastic event. I remember as a child a great conversation I had with my deeply religious scientist uncle that shaped my views on faith until this day. Not everyone has a scientist uncle, but everyone in Middletown could attend this event (well, at least as many as will fit in the church!).
ReplyDeleteTrue - science and faith coexist as God created science as a way for us to understand the world around us. God created evolution - not hard to understand at all, Trevor - but to take it out of its biblical context is just plain doctrinally wrong. However, to pick and choose what we want from the bible leads mankind down a slippery slope. It allows us to suit our own needs and agendas instead of Christ's. If we don't take it literally with true faith, then we don't really believe in God. The bible is his preserved word - simple as that. You want to take all the happy fun stuff, the stories that make us feel good, but then turn up our noses to those accounts that are less than palatable or have a hard time imagining - what type of faith is that?
ReplyDeleteIndeed there are contradictions here. Take what you want and leave the rest? That's a shaky foundation to build a spiritual home on...
The Bible is not an encyclopedia or reference book. The stories are allegorical, and are not meant to be taken literally. Yes, the story of Noah is a lovely bedtime story for children. Science and God's teaching are not in competition for who's right and who's wrong. There are plenty of scientists that are spiritual people, and believe in God. It doesn't undermine God's teachings to believe that humans evolved. We undermine's God's teachings by not loving one another; by not accepting others whose beliefs may be different than our own.
ReplyDeleteEvolution is a fact. Species have changed, emerged, and disappeared over time. The only "theory" is about exactly how this happens. People used to argue that the sun revolves around the earth, based on the Bible.
ReplyDeleteGod set the wheels of life on Earth in motion millions and millions of years ago. No one would deny that we have "evolved" spiritually, emotionally, socially, economically and many other ways in the very, very limited period of time (relatively speaking) that Man has been on Earth. But despite that knowledge, I find it ironic that there are those who cannot fathom that any of God's creatures have not morphed, adapted or "evolved" over the course of MILLIONS and MILLIONS of years? Hey, we're all entitled to our own opinions, but that view seems far too ostrich-esque for my own comfort level.
ReplyDeleteOne main point of this talk is to show that people don't have to give up critical thinking or ignore the indisputable fossil record in order to be Christians. If the person who left the original comment (anonymously) feels I am misleading my flock, he or she is free to worship elsewhere. But we claim a different path to being authentic Christians. The Bible is a testimony of faith and a collection of the stories that shape that faith. The Bible is not a science book.
ReplyDeleteEven the Vatican recognizes the science of evolution - try watching the movie Religulous if you don't believe it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that both beliefs co-exist. How do we know that "in 7 days God created the earth" didn't really mean "7 millenia"?? Could the early scripture writers comprehend how long it took to create and evolve the earth? These are questions we cannot answer, nor can any evangelical preacher who claims otherwise. I like to think that God guided our evolution to the point where we developed self-awareness and therefore "Adam" was the first cognizant human. That may also explain why when Cain was sent out he still found a wife, so obviously other beings had to exist outside Adam's immediate family.
I would love to attend this session just to sort out some of these kinds of questions.
If you want to stop a Big Bang theorist in his/her tracks, just ask---What banged?
ReplyDeleteGordon. Knew we could count on you to be completely irrelevant. And no I don't mean "irreverent."
ReplyDeleteI believe that God is the creator, and while the Bible doesn't go into detail about how God actually did it, we don't need the details because we can see - and have seen - how it happens all around us. God is still speaking and doing and creating and guiding and loving and HOPING that humankind will learn to agree to disagree yet still love and accept each other.
ReplyDeleteIt makes no sense to me to take a right/wrong position on the stories in the Bible when we are commanded by God simply to love God and love each other. That's where God wants us to direct our efforts. Bible stories help us to understand the depth of God's love for us, but they are stories, not scientific fact.
Wow, I had no idea that "First Church Teaches Evolution" would be such a radical concept! First Church is truly a church that encourages people to use their hearts and souls to explore their own spirituality, and not just blindly accept what some "authority" says.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a completely relevant question.You can't discuss evolution without discussing the creation of the universe.No universe-no evolution, or whatever.Bangers say that from a microscopic particle the entire universe was created. Sounds iffy to me but my question is--where did the microscopic particle come from?
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that somebody of superior intelligence such as yourself can count on me for something.
There is a famous scientist and religous person (wish I could remember his name) who said the more science he learns and understand, the more his faith increases and he is more convinved in the wonderment of the Universe and is MORE convinced that there is a God.
ReplyDeleteScience and Faith and believe in the Judeo-Christian God and Science, evololution support each other. The are not mutually exclusive by any means.
Aaron L Scwhartz.
Middletown
Gordon,
ReplyDeleteIn fact evolution specifically does not deal with creation of the universe, or even creation of life itself. Evolutionary theory attempts to explain the mechanism by which the diversity of species we observe in this world came to be. It is a functional description of the change of organisms over time. So a discussion of big bang theory, while interesting in and of itself, is actually not part of the discussion of evolution of species.
Not a believer in evolution? Look outward through the lens of the Hubble space telescope and watch distant galaxies still evolving. Look inward through an electronic microscope at the avian flu virus and ask why we are today terrified that it will make the jump to a more transmissible human form – because we know it’s DNA can and will evolve. The arguments of the Intelligent Designers – that there are some gaps in evolutionary theory (yes, there are but not significant ones), that some scientists (actually, fewer than 1 percent) have expressed reservations about evolution are largely specious and simply not supportable. It is irrational to suggest that by embracing evolution one must deny God’s existence. Why can't evolution simply be viewed as a marvelous product of God’s natural laws, by which humankind has only recently come into existence on this fragile and special planet. And while parts of the Genesis story are clearly at odds with the conclusions of modern science, other parts are eerily dead-on (“...and the earth was without form and void, and darkness covered...” pretty well jives with our most recent scientific understanding of pre-biological earth).
ReplyDeleteEvolution, as a broad framework for describing how our planet’s various species developed, is totally valid and scientifically verifiable. An important distinction needs to be made here: Darwin’s theory was not an explanation of how life began on earth, but rather how the numerous separate species developed and branched out along the way. It is fascinating to note that Darwin himself believed that a Supreme Being was most probably the genesis for the original living matter on earth - a premise that in theory could be buttressed by science tools not yet available in Darwin’s lifetime. We now know that all living things on this planet share a genetic code that is about 98 percent identical). If evolution is a valid explanation for the diversity of life on earth, why didn’t the biblical authors write a different story in Genesis? The answer should be strikingly obvious…there were no microscopes, no telescopes, no DNA research, no real science as we know it today when Genesis was written. In the absence of these tools of science, the writers (or more accurately their forefathers who passed down the oral tradition) fashioned a creation myth which has many similarities to those creation stories found in most cultures and religions.
Anonymous asked: "Since when did science trump God's teaching? Does this church rely a little too heavily on science instead of faith?" Please consider this: the God who gave us life; the God who gave us a heart to feel, a spirit to soar, and a mind to think and question; this unfathomable power we call God gave us a mind for a reason, makes us question for a purpose, creates in us the human imperative to go to the very reaches of the universe and discover what is out there. Jesus got it right: “(to) love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt 22:36) is indeed the greatest commandment. Note the words “with all your mind”. To artificially place dogmatic limits on the use of that mind, to curtail the exploration and inquiry that is the very essence of our humanity because it might make us uncomfortable…that would be the real definition of a pastor leading his flock astray.
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ReplyDeleteWow! So many comments about evolution and the church. I would like to know if anonymous takes the entire Bible literally.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hall is certainly not undermining God's teaching but leading our church in a spiritual journey that includes faith,love and science. Most Christians know that those are not exclusive.
It's interesting that Darwin was conflicted about publishing his findings because he knew that there would be controversy. Over two hundred years later, he is still right.
I don't want to enter the debate about wethere there or isn't evolution. Rathere I am concerned that people do not feel free to sign their names to their opinions. It is difficult to follow the discussion when one or more people sign on as anonymous. We should be willing to stand up for our convictions. I may not agree with you but I can't discuss it very well if I don't knpw who I am speaking to. A;; pf is meed tp take a deep breath and accept wht others may say as a belief.
ReplyDeleteI am the first Anonymous poster - I choose to remain as such for my own reasons - think what you will. But let me just throw this one out to all of you or at least to those who believe in Jesus and the scriptures, wether fully or partially. Do you believe in heaven and hell? Where do you want to spend eternity? Do you know that Jesus died for your sins and only through believing in Him are you saved from hell? So, while we do live in a beautiful and complicated world and universe and we have been given the power to choose (in some regards) the path that we take within it we need to answer the above questions first and foremost. Life is short and precious and we are only here, but for a while. You are all correct in your own ways and to some extent, but there is an even bigger picture. Again, I am calling attention here to Christians or those who believe they are. Focus on the creator instead of the creation. Salvation is the greatest gift Jesus could have given us - not the power to explore science. I believe some Christians have there priorities wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhen does God plan to bestow peace on earth? Closed minded religious practice brings followers back to the "Inqusition" mind set: "My God is the true God. The written word is truth."
ReplyDeleteAs a Unitarian Universalist, I believe in interfaith celebration. Understanding and accepting one another's beliefs or their search for a spiritual path will bring peace to this world.
Surely if you believe that God created the Earth then you believe that God created evolution, so you are just contradicting yourself. Also, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that evolution happened, even if it’s not the way scientists believe. If evolution never happened then how do you explain all the fossils that have been found and are millions of years old so they couldn’t have just been put there by Darwin or any other scientist.
ReplyDelete