The Fundamentalists’ “Faith Filter”
by Dr. Robert Collins
Grand Haven Tribune.
The Fundamentalists’ “Faith Filter”
Biblical and religious truths are set forth by human beings in ancient texts and ongoing revelations. Their testimonies rely on faith and a God hypothesis or argument. The duty of believers is to profess and propagate these revealed truths. A current example is the genesis account or accounts. Some sincere believers look to science for support and view Evolutionary theory as an adequate account for God’s revelation. Others use rhetorical devices to win political points in promoting “creation science” or “intelligent design”. The latter fear evolution because it can be complete without any appeals to purpose or God (“final causes” ). This is a back-handed compliment for the power and value of modern day science which we all recognize!
Scientific theories proceed from a very different source than revelation. They originate in tentative assertions (hypotheses), random events (more or less, i.e., probability theory), and nature. Evidence, observations, and reason construct powerful theories over time that tie together and explain natural events. “Essential causes” become sufficient and adequate to account for natural phenomena. God is not needed. Conclusions follow research, the very opposite of revealed or religious truths which are conclusions in front of the evidence. Scientific methods have been found to be very reliable in advancing knowledge. Theories grow in explanatory power even as scientists may argue within their halls about specific mechanisms. This sounds like weakness to believers who presume to be in possession of prior great revealed truths (“original causes” and “final causes” ).
The truth is that science is vulnerable today to fundamentalist religious and political forces that see it as having grown too strong in guiding decisions about life, death, the health of our very planet, etc. True believers use a “faith filter” for selectively picking out scientific findings to support their pre-existing conclusions while trying to take over or redefine science to include supernatural causes. They have been very slick and deceptive. The current Republican administration that is obligated to religious fundamentalists has been a champion of deception about science as detailed in Chris Mooney’s new book, “The Republican War on Science”. If they succeed, they will destroy our nation’s standing in the world. Science will flourish, no doubt about it, but elsewhere.
Please, look at the world through “grown up eyes” and not childish fantasies or wishes. We live and die on earth. Life is real and urgent. We have to leave something for our children. Human design and purpose is real, not God-centered speculation. Heaven, hell, and God have no concrete evidentiary basis, not even fossils or DNA! They are only arguments about complexity, design, and purpose based on Faith, “the evidence of things unseen.”
