Ken Miller and Culture War

Brown University’s Ken Miller, a widely known cellular biologist whose beliefs in Catholicism and Darwinism place him in the middle of the creation–evolution debate, spoke at Southern Methodist University last week, asking “Is it Time to Abandon Darwin?” (lecture title) and answering “with his opening statement of a loud and clear, ‘No.’” An article summarizing the lecture includes this fascinating tidbit:

“That would be convincing evidence if this were a scientific debate, but it’s not. This is a cultural war.”

At this point, Miller asked the audience, “Why is evolution under attack?” Colleagues and fellow scientists of Miller have asked if a certain kind of fossil or a certain type of gene mapping would help convince people like Ken Ham . . . that evolution is real.

“That would be convincing evidence if this were a scientific debate, but it’s not. This is a cultural war,” Dr. Miller said.

A-ha, it almost sounds as though Miller is a closet AiG supporter with that last comment, because this is what we’ve been saying all along! As Ken Ham explains in his landmark book The Lie: Evolution, both creation and evolution are ultimately religious, because our presuppositions drive and shape our understanding of the scientific data we observe.

Intriguingly, one lecture attendee posed this question to evolutionist-cum-Catholic Miller: “Where did Mary get the Y chromosome?” It’s a telling question to put to a Christian evolutionist, of course; where does Miller draw the line between what the Bible clearly teaches and what our day-to-day observations tell us (when it comes to miracles such as, say, the virgin birth and special creation)?

Apparently recognizing the trap, he straddled the fence: “Well, you either believe one of two things: One, someone made it up in order to draw attention to the message of the birth of the man called Jesus, or you just accept it as the miracle it’s described as.” Of course, since Miller apparently consents that the latter is a valid option, we have to ask why he doesn’t present the same option—accepting it as written—for the miracle of special creation!

A representative from AiG traveled to hear Miller speak in the Cincinnati area in 2006. For his full analysis, see “A Date with Ken Miller.”

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