Seebach: Reaching out to Christians on evolution

Published February 10, 2007 at midnight

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Thursday's e-mail from the anti-evolution Discovery Institute headlined "Ranks of Scientists Doubting Darwin's Theory on the Rise" and claimed that "another 100 scientists" have joined those ranks, bringing the total to more than 700. Worldwide.

Are you impressed? Then consider this. As of the same day, the Clergy Letter Project had 10,555 signatures to its open letter, which avows, "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."

I am aware that neither scientific nor religious truth is established by popularity polls, but the Discovery Institute wanted to play that game, and they have lost it. Also, what scientists think may not change reality, but reality affects what scientists think and do, so their views are indirect but credible evidence for the correctness of the principles accepted in their field.

The Clergy Letter Project was begun by Michael Zimmerman, then at the University of Wisconsin but now dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of biology at Butler University in Indianapolis. Last year, the project sponsored the first "Evolution Sunday," when pastors devoted their sermons or congregational study groups to the topic. The date was Feb. 12, 2006, the 197th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and 467 congregations participated.

This year's Evolution Sunday is tomorrow, and 598 congregations are signed up, 16 of them in Colorado, up from 11 last year, including five participating both years.

The Rev. Hal Chorpenning, senior minister of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Fort Collins, preached a sermon last year, "The God of Evolution," which I found online at the clergy project (evolutionsunday.org), so I asked him via e-mail whether there was any particular reason why the church wasn't on this year's list. Primarily, he said, "because the idea of evolution is so noncontroversial in our congregation." He added that the response was very positive, and also that after he wrote an Op-Ed for The Coloradoan, the church had "an upsurge in new visitors who are looking for a church that welcomes their minds and their hearts in worship."

The lists of participating churches and signatories to the letter are almost entirely from mainline Protestant churches. There are only a few Catholics, and Zimmerman said by e-mail that is "a simple artifact of how we searched for people to sign The Letter in the first place." It was easier to find names and e-mail addresses for some denominations than others.

In a comment on the weblog pandasthumb.org, Zimmerman said that the clergy letter was explicitly limited to Christian clergy. "Since it is fundamentalist Christian ministers who have been shouting to the American people that they must choose between religion and science, it seemed reasonable to have thousands upon thousands of Christian clergy assert otherwise." He went on, "It simply wouldn't be very persuasive to have leaders of other religions saying to Christians that Christian fundamentalist ministers are not speaking for all Christians."

He also wrote, "The Clergy Letter Project and Evolution Sunday are not designed to change the minds of fundamentalists. Rather, our goal is to educate the vast majority of Christians who, if told they have to choose between religion and modern science, are likely to opt for religion."

But Evolution Sunday has a broader purpose than the letter, and next year Zimmerman plans to actively recruit members of other faiths. He's even thinking about changing the name to "Evolution Weekend." Watch for it in 2008.

Linda Seebach is an editorial writer for the News. She can be reached by telephone at (303) 954-2519 or by e-mail at seebach@RockyMountainNews.com.

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