Tiede voi auttaa kirkot säilyttämään nuorison

Yhdysvaltalaisessa kyselyssä 29% kirkon jättäneistä nuorista selitti syyksi kirkon tieteenvastaisuuden ja evoluutio-kreationismi debatin.

Ratkaisu on yksinkertainen: kirkkojen tulee ymmärtää, etteivät nuoret halua kuulla satuja ja valheita asioista, joista tieteellä on jo käytännössä täysi yksimielisyys:

"These findings are a clarion call for The United Methodist Church to be more accepting of science throughout all our ministries for the benefit of all God’s children. Embracing an attitude of reconciliation and partnership with science will be essential if we hope to attract young people and keep them engaged in pursuit of a rich spiritual life — rather than repelled from it — in a modern world where science continues to reveal objective truths about the natural world."

"In this age of wide-ranging and significant scientific advancements, pastors certainly do not need to “teach” science. But, it is important for pastors to become more accepting of objective truths and pre-eminent scientific theories about the natural world upon which every single one of God’s children lives, most in desperate poverty."

"Debate put to rest

The creation-versus-evolution debate was put to rest within science more than a century ago. Scientific evolutionary theory now is so extensively corroborated by overwhelming convergent evidence from many disparate traditional and emerging scientific disciplines that the proportion of scientist-adherents versus scientist-dissenters has become unprecedented. On June 29, 1987, Newsweek reported that of the 480,000 earth and life scientists in the United States, 99.85 percent accept evolution over creationist explanations of the natural history of our planet and its myriad life forms. Pope Pius XII put the debate to rest in Catholicism in his 1950 encyclical when he stated that evolution is not in conflict with theology. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The United Methodist Church and others have followed suit with similar statements from their leaders.

The task now is to educate all ages of our membership that the debate is over. We can explore the mysteries of the natural world and universe — the realm of science — and at the same time seek moral, ethical and spiritual guidance within humanity’s many faith traditions — the realm of religion. We need to understand that the creation stories in Scripture — some would call them parables or metaphors — use scientific-appearing descriptions to teach subjective truths about interpersonal relationships and spiritual responsibilities, but they do not represent scientific thinking or theories, and they do not reveal objective truths about natural history of the world and universe.

The young folk are right. To deny evolution is simply anti-science. Denial of evolution also demands rejection of reason and experience — two of the four capacities John Wesley urged all Methodists to bring to bear upon the task of developing a more complete understanding of faith and God’s many gifts. In our society, where creationists speak loudly, silence about how religion and science are compatible also comes across as anti-science and anti-reason."