Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:39:10.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Faith of a Paleontologist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Peter Dodson
Peter Dodson*
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary Medicine and Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, 3800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6045
Get access

Abstract

Evolution is the great synthesizing principle of biology and cosmology that our students deserve to know in order to understand their world most fully. Yet evolution has social Darwinism as its dark side. An evolutionism or a scientism that teaches in the name of science that there is no God, there is no soul, there is no ultimate purpose in life, and there is no such thing as free will is not the friend of society. Creationists reject evolution not in ignorance of modern science but because of the anxieties it brings. While 90% of Americans profess to believe in God, less than half the population believes in some form of evolution. Science discounts human experience, while religion is about human experience. When forced to choose between a religion that enriches human experience and an evolutionary science that ignores human experience and minimizes humans as a species, people will unhesitatingly choose the religion that gives meaning to their daily struggles. That choice is not a necessary one, but so long as the most visible public spokespersons for evolution pursue their metaphysical agenda, people will continue to choose religion.

Type
Philosophical and Biblical Perspectives
Information
The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 5: The Evolution-Creation Controversy II: Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Geological Education , October 1999 , pp. 183 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ayala, F.J. 1995. The difference of being human: ethical behavior as an evolutionary byproduct, p. 113–135. In Rolston, H. Iii, (ed.). Biology, Ethics, and the Origin of Life. Jones and Bartlett, Boston.Google Scholar
Ayala, F.J. 1998. The evolutionary transcendence of humankind, p. 1–19. In Marks, S. (ed.). Creation and the Theory of Evolution. University of Pennsylvania Dept. of Religious Studies. The Boardman Lectureship in Christian Ethics.Google Scholar
Barbour, I. 1990. Religion in Age of Science. HarperCollins, New York, 297 p.Google Scholar
Barbour, I. 1998. Religion and Science. Historical and Contemporary Issues. HarperCollins, New York, 368 p.Google Scholar
Coulson, C. 1995. Reclaiming the soul of science. Christianity Today, 39 (9): 64.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. 1859. The Origin of Species. John Murray, London, 502 p.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. 1998. Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder. Houghton Mifflin, New York, 336 p.Google Scholar
Dennett, D.C. 1995. Darwin's Dangerous Idea. Evolution and the Meaning of Life. Simon and Schuster, New York, 586 p.Google Scholar
Dodson, E.O. 1984. The Phenomenon of Man Revisited. Columbia University Press, New York, 257 p.Google Scholar
Dodson, E.O., and Dodson, P. 1985. Evolution: Process and Product. Wadsworth, Belmont, CA, 596 p.Google Scholar
Dodson, E.O., and Howe, G. F., 1990. Creation or Evolution. University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa, Ontario, 157 pp.Google Scholar
Dodson, P. 1997. God and the dinosaurs. American Paleontologist, 5 (2): 6–8.Google Scholar
Dodson, P. 1998. Response to George F. Howe. American Paleontologist, 6 (1): 11–12.Google Scholar
Einstein, A. 1939. Science and religion, p.828–835. Reprinted in Ferris, T. (ed.). The World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics. 1991. Little, Brown and Company, Boston.Google Scholar
Gilkey, L. 1983. Creationism: the roots of the conflict, p. 56–67. In Frye, R.M. (ed.), Is God A Creationist? The Religious Case Against Creation Science. Scribner, New York.Google Scholar
Gingerich, O. 1983. Let there be light: modern cosmogony and biblical creation, p. 119–137. In Frye, R.M. (ed.), Is God A Creationist? The Religious Case Against Creation Science. Scribner, New York.Google Scholar
Gingerich, O. 1994. Dare a scientist believe in design? p. 21–32. In Templeton, J.M. (ed.). Evidence of Purpose. Continuum, New York.Google Scholar
Gould, S.J. 1999. Rocks of Ages. Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life. Library of Contemporary Thought, Ballantine, New York, 241 p.Google Scholar
Haught, J.F. 1995. Science and Religion – From Conflict to Conversation. Paulist Press, Mahwah, NJ, 225 p.Google Scholar
Haught, J.F. 1998. Darwin's gift to theology, p. 393–418. In Russell, R.J., Stoeger, W.R., and Ayala, F.J. (eds.). Evolutionary Biology and Molecular Biology: Scientific Perspective on Divine Action. University of Notre Dame Press, South Bend, IN.Google Scholar
Holden, C. 1999. Subjecting belief to the scientific method. Science, 284: 1257–1259.Google Scholar
Howe, G.F. 1998. Letter to the editor. American Paleontologist, 6 (1): 11.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F., and Wickramasinghe, N.C. 1978. Lifecloud, the Origin of Life in the Universe. Harper and Row, New York, 189 p.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. 1981. Evolution from Space: a Theory of Cosmic Creationism. Simon and Schuster, New York, 176 p.Google Scholar
Jaki, S. 1978. The Road to Science and the Ways to God. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 478 p.Google Scholar
Paul, John Ii. 1997. Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Quarterly Review of Biology, 72: 381–383.Google Scholar
King, T.M. 1995. An explosion of dazzling flashes: Teilhard's unity of faith and science. Zygon, 30: 105–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, E.J., and Witham, L. 1997. Scientists are still keeping the faith. Nature, 386: 435–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, E.J. 1998. Leading scientists still reject God. Nature, 394: 313.Google Scholar
Merchant, C. 1990. The Death of Nature. HarperCollins, New York, 348 p.Google Scholar
Peacocke, A. 1993. Theology for a Scientific Age. 2nd ed. SCM Press, London, 438 p.Google Scholar
Polkinghorne, J. 1994. Faith of a Physicist. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 211 p.Google Scholar
Polkinghorne, J. 1996. Heavy Meta. Scientific American, 275 (5): 102–104.Google Scholar
Polkinghorne, J. 1998. Belief in God in an Age of Science. Yale University Press, New Haven, 133 p.Google Scholar
Popper, K. 1959. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Basic Books, New York, 479 p.Google Scholar
Provine, W. B. 1988a. Scientists, face it! Science and religion are incompatible. The Scientist, Sept. 5, 1988, p. 10.Google Scholar
Provine, W. B. 1988b. Evolution and the foundation of ethics. MBL Science, 3: 25–29.Google Scholar
Provine, W. B. 1988c. Progress in evolution and meaning of life, p. 49–74. In Nitecki, M.H. (ed.). Evolutionary Progress. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Rieppel, O. In review. Falsificationist versus verificationist approaches to history. Cladistics.Google Scholar
Swimme, B., and Berry, T. 1994. The Universe Story. HarperCollins, New York, 305 p.Google Scholar
Scott, E.C. 1997. Creationists and the Pope's statement. Quarterly Review of Biology, 72: 401–406.Google Scholar
Wilson, E.O. 1978. On Human Nature. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 260 p.Google Scholar
Wilson, E.O. 1998. Consilience. Knopf, New York, 332 p.Google Scholar