Dear Christis,

I am writing in response to the article by Matthew Moxon on Theistic Evolution (Issue 34). I feel that I must query some of his arguments, and his conclusion that finds evolution to be incompatible with Christian belief.

In the first place, his description of evolution as “a theory and not fact” displays a lack of understanding of the concept of scientific theory. It is the nature of empirical study that no amount of supportive evidence will conclusively prove a theory, whilst a single piece of evidence contrary to the theory can discredit it. Scientific fact has little meaning beyond the existence of such a body of corroborative evidence that to continue to doubt the proof of the theory would be perverse. The vast amount of evidence supporting the fact that living species, including the human animal, have evolved is such that evolution must be considered a scientific fact. The controversy existing amongst scientists centring around evolution concerns not whether it takes place, but by what precise mechanisms it does so.

My second query arising from Matthew’s argument concerns his assertion that the truth of the Bible must exist in the narrative. Christians have no trouble in accepting the parable form of many of the New Testament teachings. It would be clearly foolish to suggest that because Jesus chose to use stories to illustrate his teachings, the basic truth of his message is invalidated. To be a Christian, and to view the Bible as the word of God does not necessarily entail a belief in the literal truth of the Old Testament, as many Christians will testify. Matthew refers to the ‘fall’ of man, claiming that evolution makes a fallacy of the concept. Nobody could look at the world today and deny the existence of evil in humanity, but to many Christians it makes more sense to view the ‘fall’ as an internal event within the individual, or alternatively as a way of describing the failure of the goodness of humanity to develop alongside its growing moral consciousness. This is articulated in parable form in Genesis.

To suggest that evolution and Christianity are “diametrically opposed” is simply not true. Science has not at this point discovered an explanation of the beginnings of our universe: the idea of a creator is not incompatible with scientific thought. Christians are free both to accept that we live in a scientific universe governed by natural laws, and that these are part of a divine plan, operating according to God’s will and in the light of God’s love. What is more difficult to accept is that God would have given us our capacities for rational thought and intellectual discovery as a means to trap us into error.

Yours faithfully,

Fiona Waddington (Langwith)