The New Bigotry

Once again Canadians who follow the news are being made aware of the great lurking danger that is facing our culture... that's right, it's those Christians again. A couple of them have actually dared to allow themselves to be placed in positions for which the leftists among us feel they should be disqualified.

The Government of Canada recently appointed Doug Cryer to a position on the immigration and refugee board. The problem is that this man has dared in the past to oppose same-sex marriage. He's also, (horrors), a Christian who believes that homosexuality is immoral. According to NDP critic Olivia Chow and the gay and lesbian group EGALE those two facts should disqualify him from this position. Their reasoning is that he would be biased against gay claimants.

Of note is that his views are shared by a great many Canadians, and if this disqualifies him and most other conservatives then, by default, all future government appointments must be given to social liberals. Actually, if you look at Canada's Supreme Court that would already appear to be the practice. Many of the changes in our culture have stemmed from precisely the type of muzzling and social engineering that these leftists appear to be promoting. Here's a thought - why not let the guy do his job. If he contravenes the rules, then challenge him!

The second appointment to come under scrutiny in the Canadian Press is the appointment of Gary Goodyear as Canada's Minister of State for Science and Technology. He dared to answer with a "no comment" when he was asked whether or not he believed in evolution. That certainly got the hounds howling against this admitted Christian. Here's a sample quote: “It is the same as asking the gentleman, ‘Do you believe the world is flat?' and he doesn't answer on religious grounds,” said Dr. Alters. “Or gravity, or plate tectonics, or that the Earth goes around the sun.”

So now the "theory" of evolution is as much a "fact" as gravity. That would be news to a great many eminent scientists who would say otherwise. Even if you want to say that and if Mr. Goodyear does believe in creationism, does that disqualify him from this position? If so, it would also disqualify Sir Isaac Newton, Kepler, Pasteur and a great many of the pillars of modern science who believed in creationism and believed it made them better scientists. They believed in a God who created the world according to a pattern. That belief spurred them to look for those patterns and the laws which He laid down in nature. Far from being an inhibitor, their faith enhanced their science.

A deeper look reveals the depth of animosity and bigotry against the faith community in the sciences. Even if you don't like Ben Stein's movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," you at least have to acknowledge that the scientific establishment has gone out of its way to make life difficult for believers, and even non-believers who dare to question evolution's place.

Here's the way I see it. Evolution has, for years, been the only acceptable view for origins within science. The reason for that was a fundamental shift from science as a simple pursuit of truth. That pursuit used to be defined by the willingness to go where the evidence leads. Now that has been replaced with an unofficial dogma that whatever explanation we come up with for the origin of man must be naturalistic. Whatever evidence there may be for special creation must be ignored because it appeals the supernatural.

This shift is then combined with the scientific principle that no theory is discarded until a more plausible theory emerges. These two lynchpins virtually assure that, even if there is a God who created this world, science will never investigate nor admit it. So we read the breathless reports on a regular basis of the numerous "missing links" that have been discovered only to find later that they aren't missing links at all. We still have textbooks that include "Haeckel's Embryos" as evidence for evolution when they were long ago proven to be fraudulent. This is one example of many. It appears that science has taken a leap of faith and pinned all of its hope on evolution.

Before I'm labelled as a complete imbecile (I likely will be anyway) let me say that the simple definition of evolution is change. This type of evolution is clearly demonstrated within species. All life adapts within certain parameters. Look at dog breeding for example. What has not been demonstrated is Darwinian evolution which claims that all life evolved from a single life form. I'm still looking for the evidence of "speciation", the transition between species which Darwin said would be clearly evident within the fossil record. Until and unless the evidence is seen, I think it would behoove scientists to admit that the theory of evolution is not the unassailable fortress it is purported to be. If it is, why do they feel the need to vilify scientists like Michael Denton, who wrote "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis" in 1986.

Unfortunately, the two sides cannot even agree on a definition of the word. The Oxford Concise Science Dictionary defines it as "evolution: The gradual process by which the present diversity of plant and animal life arose from the earliest and most primitive organisms, which is believed to have been continuing for the past 3000 million years." Yet, scientists themselves, like Douglas J. Futuyma in Evolutionary Biology say: "In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve. Biological evolution ... is change in the properties of populations of organisms that transcend the lifetime of a single individual. The ontogeny of an individual is not considered evolution; individual organisms do not evolve. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are inheritable via the genetic material from one generation to the next. Biological evolution may be slight or substantial; it embraces everything from slight changes in the proportion of different alleles within a population (such as those determining blood types) to the successive alterations that led from the earliest protoorganism to snails, bees, giraffes, and dandelions."

The truth is that for evolution to be true it must be true across all fields of science. My point is this - stop making categorical statements that aren't true. To claim that all life on earth originated from one amoeba that crawled out of some primordial ooze or that flew here on the back of a comet is just as much of a faith claim as "God created."

Beyond that, stop this endless attack on any Christian who dares to throw his hat into the public arena. Some Christians I know are open and fair-minded and intelligent thinkers. Others I know are narrow-minded, repressive and ignorant. The same can be said for atheists and agnostics I know. Let's get on with it - and keep talking.

Life On The Other Side

Here I am in the Dominican Republic, amazed at the difference a few kilometers can make. I awoke in the morning in my beautiful hotel and went downstairs for my breakfast buffet with all the touristas who were ready to hit the beach. This afternoon I was up in the mountains visiting a village of Haitians who came to find a better life but were still looking. They live in shacks pieced together with whatever scraps of wood and metal they can find and subsist on whatever they can find or have given to them.

I'm here looking at a medical clinic that our church will help to sponsor. It will provide the only medical care for miles around - free. I had the chance on Sunday to preach at the church that was erected alongside of the clinic. What a great experience to worship with a group of people who love God for who He is. Tomorrow I will visit the school which is also part of the compound. More than 100 children from Grades 1-4, who wouldn't otherwise get an opportunity, get an education so they can have a better shot at life.

Behind the school there are rows of simple block houses being built. Here, Haitians can move out of the shacks they call home, into small but solid homes with running water and electricity. There are small shops being built to provide some employment and slowly the people are gaining a scent of hope.

Yesterday I was able to join in on the celebration for a completed project. Mr. Elya Madonia, who has spent years and a small fortune of his own money to help the poor in the Dominican, invited me to come as one of his villages was being incorporated officially into a nearby community. What a transformation! What joy on the faces of children and adults alike as they saw what God, good people and hard work accomplished. Thousands of people were able to have a new beginning because someone cared.

Isn't that really what it's all about? That's why I said I was amazed at the difference a few kilometers can make. I took a picture from that Haitian village in the mountains where people lived in squalor. The picture was of the beach which could be seen off in the distance. I don't begrudge anyone their vacation, but I wonder how many take the chance to get off the beaten trail to look a little deeper and see how the other half *or 2/3s* live. I have and I'll probably never be the same. Say a prayer tonight for those who don't have enough. Then tomorrow wake up and help answer it.