Loving Science – But Not the Empire

The secular world provides a uniform and constant drumbeat: the universe evolved on its own, the earth and its geology evolved on its own, and life evolved on its own. Time and chance account for everything, and there is no need for anything else. My Christian worldview conflicted with these things. There is a God, and he created the universe, the Earth, and all living things. But the science seemed to be so clearly on the other side. Which view is true? Or is it a mish-mash of both? Maybe God was behind it all, but he used these evolutionary processes to do it? As a young person, I had kind of bought into the evolutionary side. Remember that photo of me in 3rd grade? There were already other things besides star fleet academy going on inside that cute young skull. I was in 3rd grade when I first read a simple science book that explained the evolution of man. Ironically, I had checked the book out of the school/church library at the Lutheran elementary school I attended. I was so naïve at the time… I assumed that if it was in a science book, it had to be true. Science always gave you the facts. In retrospect, maybe this was actually my first encounter with The Empire. But it just so happened that we were all assigned to come up with a project for science class that we would investigate and report out to the class. Armed with this new knowledge about human evolution, I enlisted my best friend as my partner and we told our whole class about it. I can still picture the look on my teacher’s face when we finished. He was flummoxed, but he didn’t know what to say. Our report was not in keeping with Lutheran theology. This bothered me for many years. Had I screwed up? I knew there was a conflict here, but didn’t know how to deal with it. So I kind of compartmented things and went on. For most of my youth I leaned towards the evolution side regarding “the science”, but feeling that God must have directed it all. Problem solved, for the time being. When I was a junior in College, I saw Dr. Dwayne Gish debate my Physical Anthropology professor on the issue of life and human origins. Gish was a famous creationist, and he creamed my professor. But two things stand out most in my mind. First, at the end of the debate when they opened up for questions, the first question directed to Dr. Gish was Bible-related, and meant to trip him up. He pointed out that he had not brought up The Bible during the whole debate, and that all of his arguments had been strictly scientific. That largely ended the questions. No one could counter the facts that he had presented. But the most memorable thing for me was that outside the auditorium a few minutes later I saw a student pacing back and forth talking to himself, totally enraged. I think his worldview had just been demolished and he was losing it. I was startled by his anger and obvious hatred. This had been a fair exchange of viewpoints based on the scientific facts. Why was he going haywire? Another encounter with the side effects of The Empire. I shifted my leanings to the creationist side. These issues percolated below the surface into my adult life. Finally, when I was about 30 years old, I bit the bullet and started a deep dive into finding some answers to the question of origins. I wanted to know the real science behind these things. By real science I mean the part based on the scientific method [I will lay this out in detail in chapter 2]. I began to dig down into the evidence to see if I could determine fact from fiction. This actually turned into a hobby of sorts that continues to this day. I began to collect and read books and articles that explored both sides of the issue. I could find all of the major popular books on evolution at my local library, but very little of the literature from the Gish side of the spectrum, which I had to purchase. Hmmm, more evidence of the pervasiveness of The Empire? Since I had been immersed in the viewpoint favoring the evolutionary side all my life, I generally read more on the other side, spending Fall through Spring with the creationists, and Summer with the evolutionists. I know, I’m so organized… It was only after the first few years into the deep dive that the blinders came off. On topic after topic, from the origin of life to the evolution of man, from the fossil record to the dating game, the real science favors the creationist view. In case after case, I found that the evidence at hand takes you only so far, and then the storytelling begins. I was amazed to find what passes as science with the mainstream in all of the key disciplines. Brought up with scientific rigor, I had thought that this must be followed everywhere. I was sorely disappointed. What’s more, I found that the cards are stacked against the open exchange of ideas. There is a “scientific establishment” so to speak which controls and regulates what data and research can be accepted in mainstream academia and publications. In our schools and in our textbooks, and in our public libraries. During my deep dive, a new movement began among some scientists known as the Intelligent Design, or ID movement. Those who joined with this group began to be banned from publishing and research. People were fired from their jobs. In 2008 a film came out titled “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” which covers this very topic. If you look it up on Wikipedia, you will find it described as a “propaganda film”. Need I say more? This is my gripe. Jane T Public and John Q Public get all of their information on science and scientific developments from an establishment that is completely biased towards an atheistic worldview on the origins issues. They believe many things are proven science which are not proven science, and which are sometimes completely outside the realm of science, and are true “science fiction”. For the purpose of this book, I am calling the dominant scientific establishment The Empire. This is a nod towards the Star Wars movies and stories with which you are hopefully familiar. No analogy is perfect, and this is true here of course, but you can judge as we go along where the shoe fits. It also gives me the chance to inject humor here and there with hopes to make you smile. You will need it. You will read things that may make your blood boil, but hopefully you will hold it together better than the angry young man outside Dr. Gish’s debate. These issues are important and far-reaching. What you believe about your origins has everything to do with how you live your life and what you believe about your destiny. So, come with me on our own Trek as we explore the world around us. From the miracle of life to the miracle of birth, from the wonders of the cell and the eye to the revelation of what DNA really is. We will look at the evidence vs the storytelling. And we will sadly witness how science has suffered many black eyes in the course of promoting false concepts, especially evolutionary theory. Many of these are not yet known to the public. In order to make our trek a star trek, I am sprinkling the book with my own favorite astrophotography images, (taken by yours truly over several decades). I hope you enjoy them. It is a labor of love. And I do love science, but I don’t worship it. And I definitely don’t love The Empire.