tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post5049147139463142701..comments2023-12-27T11:23:38.346-05:00Comments on Vanguard Church - Bob Robinson: Fundamentalist Suspicion Toward the Scientific Community Dies HardBob Robinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08576734261775426385noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-91163734953138968782010-01-28T19:38:41.466-05:002010-01-28T19:38:41.466-05:00Cal,
Thanks for taking the time to comment here. I...Cal,<br />Thanks for taking the time to comment here. I certainly do hope that my readers will get curious and decide to read the RCTT for themselves and see whether my characterization is accurate! As I said <a href="http://vanguardchurch.blogspot.com/2009/12/evangelicals-divided-over-climate.html" rel="nofollow">in my first post in this series</a>, "The debate inside the evangelical camp is good, and we need to keep it up."<br /><br />The reason I characterize the Cornwall Alliance as suspicious of science is that, much like the Young Earth / Anti-Evolution wing of Fundamentalism, the Cornwall Alliance promotes a suspicion toward the prevailing scientific consensus. <br /><br />I see a parallel between your group and those in the Young Earth / Anti-Evolutionist camp. Because of their specific narrow understanding of Genesis 1, they have recruited scientists to write articles and books that counter the prevailing scientific consensus. <br /><br />It seems to me that the Cornwall Alliance is driven by a specific narrow ideology that puts Man (especially redeemed Christians) in charge of all things, thus allowing us to do what we feel is right to the earth's resources. I see these three serious flaws theologically that flows from this ideology: (1) A narrow understanding of the imago Dei, shrinking it down to merely "dominion," (2) An over-confidence that fallen humanity cannot cause harm to God's good creation, and (3) A slant toward free market capitalism as defining a Christian worldview. <br /><br />Help me understand this: It seems to me that this ideology is foundational to what you're trying to accomplish. So, just like the Young Earth / Anti-Evolutionists, the Cornwall Alliance alligns itself with scientists that agree that AGW is false. <i>They</i> have the Discovery Institute and the Institute for Creation Research, both filled with scientists that seek to rub against the grain of the majority scientific consensus; <i>you</i> have the scientists that are willing to write your statements as well.<br /><br />I do certainly believe that the Cornwall Alliance truly believes that it is doing the will of God. I believe that you really are seeking to help the poor through your work. I don't doubt your heart-felt desire to do what's right. I praise God for that! <br /><br />But what concerns me is the Cornwall Alliance's deep-seated ideology that seems to have major flaws and which seems to be driving the fight against the prevailing scientific consensus.Bob Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08576734261775426385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-22304413104029495112010-01-28T18:06:31.253-05:002010-01-28T18:06:31.253-05:00It's difficult to understand why you would cha...It's difficult to understand why you would characterize the Cornwall Alliance as suspicious of science when the science chapter of our Renewed Call to Truth is by a NASA climatologist (Roy W. Spencer) and a U. Delaware climatologist (David Legates) and was reviewed by eight other scientists, and our chief complaint against advocates of anthropogenic global warming alarmism is that they rely not on science but on faulty science. Well, perhaps a few of your readers will get curious and decide to read the RCTT for themselves and see whether your characterization was accurate.Cal Beisnerhttp://www.cornwallalliance.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-64921460915885842432009-12-26T11:02:27.309-05:002009-12-26T11:02:27.309-05:00Also, I believe that suspicion itself can be a man...Also, I believe that <i>suspicion</i> itself can be a manifestation of sin.<br /><br />I run into this all the time - an arrogant suspicion against anything intellectual, anything scientific, anything that our educational institutions has to offer the world. <br /><br />This presumptuous attitude that "they must be wrong" since they are "evil and depraved" underestimates the Common Grace of God. (And it is a slap in the face of Christians like Houghton who have dedicated their Christian lives to the betterment of the world.)<br /><br />An arrogant suspicion also severely limits our ability as Christians to impact the culture when everything is viewed through the "us vs. them" lens. I'd like to see Christians engaged in all the forms of culture-making, including science. But we cannot do so very effectively if we have the fundamentalist attitude that if a person is not a born-again Christian, we have to be suspicious of their intellectual work. How can we honestly engage in culture-making with such an attitude?Bob Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08576734261775426385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-57909959768474761512009-12-26T10:43:26.128-05:002009-12-26T10:43:26.128-05:00Byron,
Yes, I think that this quote is very approp...Byron,<br />Yes, I think that this quote is very appropriate. We definitely need a "cultivated suspiciousness of that which currently passes muster in any powerful worldly circle."<br /><br />So here's the rub on this particular issue: <br /><br />We have in one corner the scientists who strive to grow and/or maintain a certain kind of "power," and in the other corner we have the libertarian capitalists who strive to grow and/or maintain another kind of "power."<br /><br />How do we discern who has the "power" that we need to be suspicious toward? How often do the "blurred concepts and twisted values" of <i>evangelical Christians</i> warp their ability to see clearly the facts and to act accordingly?<br /><br />We have evangelical Christians who accept global warming - and they are not immune (just because they are Christians) of succumbing to evil and depravity in their seeking to do something about global warming (including the head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/april/16.77.html" rel="nofollow">Sir John Houghton</a>, who is a believer). <br /><br />But is it just as possible that the Cornwall Alliance has such a strident ideology that they are unwilling to accept the science? Is it not very likely that Cal Beisner is so enmeshed in a Christian/Capitalist syncretism that he cannot see the facts clearly?Bob Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08576734261775426385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-29106694556560512922009-12-25T18:11:13.046-05:002009-12-25T18:11:13.046-05:00What is it with evangelicals' skepticism over ...What is it with evangelicals' skepticism over things like "global warming" and evolutionary fundamentalism? Maybe it's that we're reacquiring that long-lost/lamented Christian mind:<br /><br />"A peculiar quality of the Christian mind is that, knowing the weakness of human nature, it...assumes that the powers of evil will exploit every possible occasion for drawing men into the mental confusion of blurred concepts and twisted values. There is about the Christian mind a peculiar hardness--a refusal to be surprised at evil and depravity; an inability to be overcome by shock; an expectation that evil will be at large where God is not. <b>Hence its cultivated suspiciousness of that which currently passes muster, in any powerful worldly circle, as the right thing</b>...it knows how evil grows."<br /><br />Harry Blamires, <i>The Christian Mind</i>, p. 102.Byron Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11908643905553334277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-28517459319435951412009-12-19T09:41:28.410-05:002009-12-19T09:41:28.410-05:00Oh, Ted! You are so IMPERSONAL! That's what I ...Oh, Ted! You are so IMPERSONAL! That's what I hate about you ;-)<br /><br />Thanks for commenting and for your friendship!Bob Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08576734261775426385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-62225066123267128192009-12-17T12:27:27.102-05:002009-12-17T12:27:27.102-05:00Don't mean to be so impersonal, Bob. Good post...Don't mean to be so impersonal, Bob. Good posts! You're tackling a difficult subject, one I'm fearful of treading on.Ted M. Gossardhttp://communityofjesus.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110103.post-89444038907166977402009-12-17T00:19:43.300-05:002009-12-17T00:19:43.300-05:00Wishful thinking on the part of The Cornwall Allia...Wishful thinking on the part of The Cornwall Alliance. I wish we American Christians (true of conservative evangelicals, anyhow) would simply have creation care as a priority amidst our priorities, but alas, we do not!Ted M. Gossardhttp://communityofjesus.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com