"The results are in, and they’re not pretty. The United States leads Western nations — all 30 of them — in ignorance about evolution. We have a higher percentage of citizens who don’t accept evolution than any other developed country does. Oh … except Turkey. The reason why these two countries are on top (or at the bottom, as the case may be) is that they have more fundamentalists than other countries. The only difference is that Turkey’s are Muslims and ours are Christians." - Kevin Padian

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In the following video, Padian gives a wonderful explanation of the larger problem of fundamentalism and it's error of "revealed truth that is not subject to investigation". More importantly, he goes on (in the full length interview) to dispel the myth that science is the 2nd side of the same modern coin as religious fundamentalism. There is this tendency that I often hear in Emerging (post-conservative) Christian discussions to lump scientists into the modern problem of overt certainty. I struggle with that tendency because I don't want Emerging Christianity to simply become a return to pre-modern naivety and superstition (i.e. a new form of fundamentalism). I love how Padian describes uncertainty and doubt in science without grasping for the crutch of supernatural intervention. I see an opportunity for a robust marriage of faith and science to emerge. Evolution education and discussion may be a great place to start. It is good to see churches having this discussion.


HT: James McGrath