19 Comments
User's avatar
The Prayer Addict's avatar

This is great. Good work. Glory to God!

Barry's avatar

Excellent, amazing, and faith inspiring...very uplifting, thank you

THE QUARTER…'s avatar

You had me at “feeling spicy…”

Robert Italia's avatar

Wow.

Doctrix Periwinkle's avatar

Great article. I learned a lot. Thank you for sharing.

AnAmericanReader's avatar

Great historical survey. It seems like a scientist in academia might have trouble gaining tenure if known to be a six-day creationist or even holding a more general belief in intelligent design.

Sarah Salviander's avatar

Depends on the field, but it's unlikely you'll get hired, let alone tenure, if you're a YEC in STEM. A general belief in ID is less of a problem, unless that's your field of research.

Kyle Pollock's avatar

Thank you for sharing!

Contarini's avatar

Are you familiar with the works of Fr. Stanley Jaki?

Sarah Salviander's avatar

I've heard the name, but not familiar with any works.

Contarini's avatar

He wrote about precisely the issue you are discussing here, I am sure you would like his work.

The Radical Individualist's avatar

I used to teach grade school earth science to students who lived in the Bible belt. It wasn't that tough to do. All I did was acknowledge their right to believe whatever they want, but that they still had to learn the science behind evolution. No problem. I respected them, and they respected me.

I wrote this a few years ago, and publish it every Christmas. It's not the right season, but this is definitely thee right place:

https://open.substack.com/pub/individualistsunite/p/ive-seen-the-light-49c?r=z324w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Sarah Salviander's avatar

Thanks for sharing that story. I think there's balance to be found here. My ministry is focused on helping Christians overcome science-based doubts, but at the same time, I don't believe we need to have every single science-type question about Christianity answered in order to believe. I think the dad made a mistake in how he reacted to his son. But I also think it's a mistake to put too much emphasis on facts and proofs when the emphasis should be on our relationship with God.

The Radical Individualist's avatar

Being a science teacher, I was jolted when the minister castigated his son. But I knew the man well. You couldn't want a kinder more compassionate father than him. Frankly, that sermon did much to fill some of missing spaces between my science and my belief.

Sarah Salviander's avatar

Kindness and compassion are necessary for our witness and will go a long way. But at the same time, I've heard from many ex-Christians that their departure from Christianity began with criticism for trying to reconcile science with their faith.

The Radical Individualist's avatar

That's a shame. I think rigid dogmatism is found both science and Christianity. Unquestioning dogmatism is undesirable in both science and Christianity.

Comment removed
Jun 19
Eugine Nier's avatar

I'm sorry no one ever taught you any history.

Contarini's avatar

Cling to your bigoted lies if it makes you feel better.