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God & Evolution One of Two Books Named Book of the Year by World Magazine


Congratulations to Jay Richards, who’s having an all-star week to kick off his summer. First, his book Money, Greed and God garnered a Templeton Foundation award, and now World Magazine has announced that God & Evolution, which he edited and contributed to, is one of two books named as the publication’s Books of the Year for 2011.

This year we’re looking at neither the depths of Scripture, nor the surface of politics and economics, but the middle ground: ideas about the nature of man and the world. Think about the three main intellectual influencers of the 20th century: Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin. Two of the three–Freud and Marx–have lost most of their influence. The exception is Darwin. Two years ago his millions of fans celebrated the bicentennial of his birth, which was also the 150th anniversary of his famous book On the Origins of Species.
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The irony in the current TE surge, as former Westminster Chapel pastor R.T. Kendall points out, is that “science is always changing. A scientific dictionary nowadays is out of date in ten years, and yet theologians keep running after modern science.” Our other co-Book of the Year, God and Evolution (Discovery Institute Press), also notes that Collins’ assertions several years ago concerning “junk DNA” have already been shown to be erroneous: This “junk” regulates the timing of DNA replication, tags sites that need their genetic material rearranged, guides RNA splicing and editing, helps chromosomes fold properly, and regulates embryo development.
Collins, since he is the leader of those who recycle concepts of God as divine watchmaker rather than creator, receives ample criticism from God and Evolution editor Jay Richards. When Collins complains of those who portray “the Almighty as a clumsy Creator, having to intervene at regular intervals to fix the inadequacies of His own initial plan,” Richards wonders why it would be beneath God’s dignity to be involved in the world: “Perhaps He desires a world that is more like a violin than a self-winding watch, an instrument he can play. . . . Maybe He wants a world that exhibits a certain predictable regularity, but is by no means closed to His direct influence. . . . Maybe God is like a hobbyist, who enjoys having a ‘work in progress.'”
Molecular biologist Jonathan Wells similarly turns on its head the frequent TE claim that growing scientific knowledge squeezes more and more the position of those who rely on God to explain mysteries. Wells writes, “Instead of supporting Darwinian evolution, the new DNA evidence actually undercuts it. Indeed, the more we learn about our genome, the less tenable Darwin’s theory becomes. Collins is clinging to a ‘Darwin of the gaps’ position that becomes more precarious with each new discovery.”

Read the full article from World here.

Robert Crowther, II

Robert Crowther holds a BA in Journalism with an emphasis in public affairs and 20 years experience as a journalist, publisher, and brand marketing and media relations specialist. From 1994-2000 he was the Director of Public and Media Relations for Discovery Institute overseeing most aspects of communications for each of the Institute's major programs. In addition to handling public and media relations he managed the Institute's first three books to press, Justice Matters by Roberta Katz, Speaking of George Gilder edited by Frank Gregorsky, and The End of Money by Richard Rahn.

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