I recognise that the last desperate strategy of the uninspired blogger is to post links to other blogs but this one is worth a read by anyone interested in the debate about Darwin. Here
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Distinct Reflections 
This was (fairly) useful info to me as a Christian (though I couldn’t find anything on his site to say whether he has a faith himself.)
I have been looking into the whole issue of evolution vs. creationism recently after I attended a seminar on the subject. I’ve come to the conclusion that the theory of evolution and the Genesis account are not mutually exclusive as many evangelical Christians would have us believe. Genesis tells us the who and the what whilst evolution explains the how (ok I know that’s a simple view but it illustrates a point!). What concerns me is the amount of time and effort it took for me to find out any information on which to base a view, particularly from Christian sources. The loudest voices are those for either Creationism or Intelligent Design (which it seems is Creationism but attempting to hide behind a false facade of ‘science). These voices proclaim a number of ‘errors’ or ‘unexplained observations’ in the theory of evolution yet it appears if you look at the science these claims are just not valid. Oft quoted are the ‘missing fossil records’ which have in actual fact been discovered within the last 20 years! The other points made by Creationists are also able to be refuted by the real science. So why then in our churches do we pander to those who ‘believe’ a Creationist viewpoint. Why can we not as Christians accept the real science and point out to these people the ‘revealed wisdom’ about the World around us discovered by scientists using their God-given talents and abilities? By accepting Creationism as a valid viewpoint we are at best ignoring the issue and hoping it will go away and at worst we are participating in the promulgation of a lie. And once we get into trying to use Genesis as a scientific textbook we get into all kinds of issues (like the lady in the discussion group that I was in who stated that the bible clearly advocated incest as an explanation for how Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel were able to ‘multiply!)
Genesis is a fantastic account of a wonderful God who created an amazing world. It gives us a clear message about his sovereignty, his love for us, and his on-going care and guidance but it does not provide us with an A level scientific textbook on how the world got to where it is today.
So Neil – how about you ‘bite the bullet’ and preach on this in Church?
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Thanks for the comments. Some quick responses:
1. I don’t know Ben Myers, so can’t really comment but he comes across as a man with a faith rooted in historic Christianity. I’ve just checked his facebook page and the mutual friends we share are all good people.
2. I probably ought to do some reading in this area, because my knowledge is woeful. It hasn’t been a major personal issue for me so I’ve not kept up with it. Perhaps other blog readers might like to offer suggestions?
3. Personally, I would be wary of drawing a firm distinction between real science and false science. I’m not a scientist (unless A level Physics and Chemistry count) and would be hesitant to give a firm view about scientific evidence. I think the crucial split is between those who have an openmindedness that wants to probe, test and consider the evidence on the one hand and those who have made their minds up and are closed to any other possibilities – it seems to me that Richard Dawkins is as much in the second camp as some creationists.
4. There is the question of how we handle and intepret the Bible. I’m sure you are right to focus on Genesis as a book which proclaims God’s dealing with creation: God deliberately does something in creation, God continues to care about creation and makes promises to it (and humanity in particular). Links to ancient near eastern creation and flood stories, similarities with scientific explanations and so on may help us understand the passages but are not their primary focus.
5. I preached a series on Genesis 1-11 in my last church and I guess I might do so again in Poynton at some point. To do justice to Genesis requires more than one Sunday, though I could be persuaded into a Sunday evening or two on “Creation, evolution and being in the image of God” or something.
6. The difficulty we sometimes overlook is that this is, in part, a question of how God relates to the world. How interventionist is God? If God doesn’t normally intervene in evolutionary processes why should we expect divine intervention from our prayer life?
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