Claim CA601.1:

Evolution's materialism or methodological naturalism denies a role for God. "Methodological naturalism asks us for the sake of science to pretend that the material world is all there is" (Dembski, 1996).

Source:

Johnson, Phillip E. 1999. The church of Darwin. Wall Street Journal, 16 Aug. 1999, http://www.arn.org/docs/johnson/chofdarwin.htm

Response:

  1. This is simply a lie. There are numerous scientists who embrace both evolution and God. They believe not only that God created a universe in which evolution occurs naturally but that God works constantly in their and other people's lives. The claim otherwise by Johnson, Dembski, and others is an overt rejection of other people's religious beliefs.

  2. This claim applies not only to evolution; it logically should apply to people who believe in materialism or methodological naturalism in any science or any aspect of life. All people who believe that God does not intervene to keep planets rotating, cause winds, or make sodas fizz, according to this claim, must be atheists. It is obvious that they are not. Many famous scientists were and are devout Christians who use, in their work, exactly the same sort of naturalism that evolutionary science uses.

  3. From a practical point of view, the people who make this claim are denying more than advocating a role for God. They say that theistic evolution is no different from atheistic evolution because it does not show God acting directly. For them, a God that does not act supernaturally is equivalent to no god at all. But nothing supernatural is happening around me right now; in fact, I have never seen anything supernatural occur. Does that mean God is not around? According to Johnson and others who believe his claim, God is irrelevant for almost all of our lives.

Links:

Isaak, Mark. 2002. A philosophical premise of 'naturalism'? http://www.talkdesign.org/faqs/naturalism.html

References:

  1. Dembski, William A. 1996. What every theologian should know about creation, evolution and design. http://www.arn.org/docs/dembski/wd_theologn.htm
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created 2001-2-18