12 November 2009

Can a Biologist Trust an Evangelical Christian?

You are invited to a panel discussion on building trust between scientists and Christians. It is related to the IU themester of "Evolution, Diversity and Change" and is on the official themester calendar.

The panelists will each give brief opening statements (10 min.) followed by about an hour of Q&A.

More details are below.

What: Panel Discussion "Can a Biologist Trust an Evangelical Christian?"
When: Nov. 12 at 7:00 PM
Where: Indiana Memorial Union, Dogwood Room
Why: We believe there should be no conflict between science and faith, because God is the author of both. We believe that Christians can and should explore the natural world and have the courage to accept that evolution is the best scientific explanation of evidence spanning billions of years into the past and within our own DNA. To this end, we hope to engage in the spirit of IU’s Themester by hosting an academic discussion, open to all who are interested, with panelists who are Christians and scholars, and who wish to build trust between the academy and Christianity.

Panelists
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Dr. Jeff Hardin
Professor and Chair, Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Dr. Tim O'Connor
Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy, Indiana University

Dr. Richard Holdeman
Pastor, Bloomington Reformed Presbyterian Church

Lecturer, Department of Biology, Indiana University

Moderator
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Kerilyn Harkaway
Doctoral Student, English and Religious Studies, Indiana University

Sponsors
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InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministry at IU
Indiana University Student Association

5 comments:

ONLINE VALUABLE RESOURCES said...
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Darius said...

Do all three panelists assume the veracity of macro evolution?

Luke C. said...

I think it would be more accurate to say they had been convinced by the evidence for macro-evolution.

Darius said...

In other words, it will consist of a one-sided dialogue on the topic? No opposing views from scientists who haven't "been convinced"? So much for building trust...

To be fair, I wouldn't like it if a bunch of intelligent design supporters had a "panel discussion" under the guise of promoting trust between science and Christians. It's not helpful on either side of the debate to do this sort of "let us explain how you're wrong" thing.

Darius said...

Luke,

Any thoughts on the Climategate scandal? It seems pretty clear from the emails that the premier scientists behind global warming have been involved in years of deceiving the public and illegally deleting documents or "fixing" them when they didn't support the global warming cause. As a scientist, no matter what you may feel about global warming, I assume you are outraged that scientists could do this sort of thing and that they would care more about supporting a political cause than following the science where it leads.