In regards to Sophia Fazal’s article in late September on rubbing elbows with rock star, E.O. Wilson: I, too, have had the great fortune of reading his book “The Creation,” which has created a spark in the minds of Christian preachers, priests and evolutionary biologists everywhere. I feel Wilson’s plea in his book can be extended to our campus.
E.O. Wilson makes an appeal to these preachers to close the schism between church and science in order to preserve what minimal creation we have left. Wilson says the Earth is falling apart, and one need not be an award-winning evolutionary biologist to figure that out. Wilson ventures to state the only way we can save Mother Nature is to, as The Beatles say, come together.
Wilson’s argument is right. There is so much tension on campus between Christians and evolutionary thinkers, and I think to myself, it doesn’t have to be that way. In classrooms, we raise the argument, and we pursue it. That’s where the argument belongs – not, however, in preservation efforts.
Raised here in the South, I understand Christian thinkers’ hesitation in joining arms with evolutionists. I can understand that terms like evolution and natural selection can make a fundamentalist Christian cringe, especially given Alabama’s poor education in the field. (We’ve always got Mississippi, right boys?)
Trust me – I watch my family squirm in their chairs at the dinner table every holiday when someone asks me what my major is. However, Jesus hung out with the “bad guys,” the perceived sinners. A very misunderstood Mr. Darwin did not boil down creation to reductionist terms, but instead stated, “There is grandeur in this view of life…” It is easy for us to find common ground, so why don’t we?
Christians and evolutionists alike contain a fondness for creation. Regardless of motivation, we all preach the gospel of preservation. We all believe humankind belongs in creation – either that we were made for it, or it was made for us. However, due to minor paradigm differences, we refuse to work together in preservation efforts.
Evolutionary biologists turn their noses up at Christian efforts to save creation. Christians push legislation through that denies our children the right to a well-rounded natural sciences education. Obviously, neither school of thought is being very effective.
In the end, we have to banish these hierarchical thoughts – from science, the thought that we are somehow smarter or more clued in; from Christianity, the thought that science is wrong and will remain that way. We are to meet on common ground. Neither one of us is more ethical or altruistic than the other. The common ground can be found in profound love for the creation and determination to not see it perish.
Success in preservation efforts lies in seeing the fire of disagreement put to rest and no longer fueling the imaginary controversy that lies between Christians and evolutionists. We all experience those same idiosyncrasies available, as far as we know, only to humans.
We can let go of petty metaphysical differences and meet on the plane of human existence. We can reverse centuries of schism and preserve creation.
Malia Blunt is a senior majoring in anthropology.
