timeimmortal

The professor who briefly appears in the segment, Denis O. Lamoureux of the University of Alberta, is a former theology professor whom I still keep in touch with. He was briefly quoted, as the Reader can see, in a discussion with Richard Dawkins on TVOntario’s “Agenda” program.

Dawkins has his opinions, and I have mine. What I wanted to remark on in the video is how trapped, how very stuck, Dawkins is in his view of the relationship between science and Religion as being a dichotomy. He cannot grasp that an excellent science would believe in God not out of some kind of desperation, but by conscious choice that emerges out of reasoned consideration. Dr. Lamoureux (or Dr. Dr. Dr. Lamoureux — he holds three PhDs, two of them in scientific fields) was an atheist for no small length of time.

Dawkins is so trapped in this dichotomy that he can’t help but attempt to pigeonhole Dr. Lamoureux by essentially declaring that Denis uses his religion to explain away gaps in the evolutionary process. Perhaps Dawkins can be excused for not having gotten to know Dr. Lamoureux as well as he should have — suffice to say that anyone who knows Denis knows that the last thing he believes is a “God of the Gaps” model of creation.

When Denis talks about God being “behind” the science, he’s not talking about a God who simply guides the process past the rocky spots and yet-unexplained gaps in its record. Instead, he’s talking about the sort of God I discuss in this article here — a God who created all things out of His endless love, who continues to pour our His love upon creation, and to whose love creation responds in a multitude of amazing ways…including the emergence of life itself.

Update: Welcome, WebElf readers!

~ by Kenneth on June 11, 2008.