Positive case not built for atheist-materialism
Bernie Hendricks
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Opinion & Editorial
Richard Dawkins, revered as the atheist godfather of Darwinian evolution, when interviewed about the finer points of evolution, explained that the primal event in the origin of life was the "first self-replicating molecule."
[Right, and how did that happen?] - "I've told you, we don't know."
[So you have no idea how it started?] - "No, no. Nor has anyone."
SDSU students should hardly be chastened for reserving judgment on the atheist-materialist faith in random, purposeless mutations purportedly underlying the transmutation of species - especially in light of Phelps's reluctance to build a positive case for it himself.
C.S. Lewis further questioned the problem of sentience within the realm of this "faith:"
"If minds are wholly dependent on brains, and brains on biochemistry, and biochemistry (in the long run) on the meaningless flux of the atoms, I cannot understand how the thought of those minds should have any more significance than the sound of the wind in the trees."
[Right, and how did that happen?] - "I've told you, we don't know."
[So you have no idea how it started?] - "No, no. Nor has anyone."
SDSU students should hardly be chastened for reserving judgment on the atheist-materialist faith in random, purposeless mutations purportedly underlying the transmutation of species - especially in light of Phelps's reluctance to build a positive case for it himself.
C.S. Lewis further questioned the problem of sentience within the realm of this "faith:"
"If minds are wholly dependent on brains, and brains on biochemistry, and biochemistry (in the long run) on the meaningless flux of the atoms, I cannot understand how the thought of those minds should have any more significance than the sound of the wind in the trees."
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Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 19
Dennis N
posted 4/29/09 @ 7:23 PM CST
Wait, so you're a college newspaper, and you're running an article doubting evolution? I thought colleges were about higher learning.
Cletus
posted 4/29/09 @ 8:05 PM CST
Apparently, there is a class in creationist quote-mining at SDSU.
If people want to check out a true lack of evidence for a proposition, try finding contemporaneous (or even closely contemporaneous) non-biblical evidence for the existence of Jesus. (Continued…)
PhillyChief
posted 4/30/09 @ 1:28 AM CST
I'm curious about this "Darwinian evolution" line. Granted, it's better than the usual Creationist term of simply "Darwinism", but still it belies an ignorance, real or feigned, of science and evolution. (Continued…)
PhillyChief
PhillyChief
posted 4/30/09 @ 1:29 AM CST
I'm curious about this "Darwinian evolution" line. Granted, it's better than the usual Creationist term of simply "Darwinism", but still it belies an ignorance, real or feigned, of science and evolution. (Continued…)
Kubush
posted 4/30/09 @ 4:56 AM CST
Just because we don't know how it all started doesn't mean that evolution is wrong. And Gould and Eldredge are refering to punctuated equilibrium and are not in the slightest refering to biological evolution as a whole. (Continued…)
Tony Konrath
posted 4/30/09 @ 9:19 AM CST
Naughty!
The full quote is ""I well remember how the synthetic theory beguiled me with its unifying power when I was a graduate student in the mid-1960's. (Continued…)
Mrs M
posted 4/30/09 @ 10:20 AM CST
Any columnist who mentions Brady Phelps (a piece of shit) in the first line made me stop reading their column.
Reginald Selkirk
posted 4/30/09 @ 2:33 PM CST
Eldridge, Gould, Lewin and Dawkins all believe in the scientific theory of evolution, they just disagree on details. Hendricks wants to deceive you about that. (Continued…)
Shane
posted 4/30/09 @ 3:07 PM CST
"...the meaningless flux of the atoms, I cannot understand how the thought of those minds should have any more significance..."
Atoms follow regular physical laws, and their predictability allows sentience to develop to reflect a consistent, meaningful relationship to reality. (Continued…)
Mr. Hendricks just doesn't get it
posted 4/30/09 @ 9:42 PM CST
Bernie Hendricks expects Brady Phelps to prove atheism, to there is no god. Bernie, Bernie, Bernie... You can't prove a negative! Phelps cannot prove there is no god anymore than I can prove there is no Santa Claus. (Continued…)
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