"Expelled" Movie Comments (Part 5: Testimony of Alister McGrath)

by Bernie Dehler, 5-8-08

I agree with Eugenie Scott (portrayed as one of the villains) in the Expelled movie- there's a little known secret that there are many mainstream Christians who believe in evolution. Evolution does not equate to Atheism... Evolution does not equate to Atheism... I need to repeat that 100 times because the terms (atheism/evolution) are confused together for too many evangelical Christians.

Many Christian scientists are rejecting ID... in fact, from my research, the vast majority of Christian scientists are rejecting ID. Let me give one example.

In the movie, it talks about how Dawkins believes in atheism, and says it is due to evolution. Then Alister McGrath (also a Professor at Oxford) comes on to defend Christianity. Hint- McGrath is defending ID, right? Actually no. They never ask McGrath his opinion of ID in the movie. Are they afraid of the answer? Yes, because McGrath has written about his opposition to ID in his book "The Dawkins Delusion." McGrath is one of those Christians who fully accepts evolution, just like Francis Collins, the world-renowned evangelical Christian scientist who wrote "The Language of God."

Here's what McGrath has to say about ID, from "The Dawkins Delusion" pg. 30:

The real problem here, however, is the forced relocation of God by doubtless well-intentioned Christian apologists into the hidden recesses of the universe, beyond evaluation or investigation. Now that's a real concern. For this strategy is still used by the intelligent design movement-- a movement, based primarily in North America, that argues for an "intelligent Designer” based on gaps in scientific explanation, such as the "irreducible complexity" of the world. It is not an approach which I accept, either on scientific or theological grounds. In my view, those who adopt this approach make Christianity deeply-- and needlessly-- vulnerable to scientific progress.

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Series on the movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"
Website: http://www.expelledthemovie.com/

Comments

[BW]

Hi Bernie,

Darwinian Evolution denies the Genesis account of the Hebrew Bible. Evolution exposis the concept that man evolved spontaneously (by random selection). Darwinian Evolution denies that God was involved in the creative process as man could have evolved (into man) without God.

To say that God used the process of evolution to create man is adding something to the scriptures that is not there, and again, it denies God a role in the creative process. If it were true (i.e., evolution) Genesis should read, "God made man, by evolution, out of the dust, etc., etc.

Darvinian Evolution, by definition, precludes the porposition that God created man and that man was created "in the image of God". The whole concept of the Garden of Eden, the Fall, etc., etc., is negated. There would have been no need for a redeemer or a savior (i.e., Jesus Christ, the Son of God) were the concept of Darwinian Evolution to be true.

BW

[Bernie of FreeGoodNews.com]

BW-

That's fine if you consider only the Bible, but it is only half the picture. God's general revelation through nature is the other half, and it appears to me that there is overwhelming evidence that evolution actually happened. So, we have to deal with it.

...Bernie