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> Just to clarify when I said "these Evangelicals" I was referring > specifically to those individuals that identify themselves as such. > I believe that there is a multidenominational national organization > that explicitly outlines the beliefs of the common group. These > things range from antievolution to "New Orleans was sinful and had > it coming." Those view are consistently conveyed by individuals who > label themselves as Evangelicals. There may be dissenters but I > have not heard anyone in the media labeled "Evangelical" who did not > convey the messages of the common group consistently. That includes > the "intellectuals" like Dr. James Kennedy. Although there exist some groups that try to provide a unified "evangelical" voice, the numerous disparate Protestant denominations involved make it impossible to have any enforced viewpoint. I tried searching the National Association of Evangelicals website for anything related to creation or to Katrina. All I found was information on Katrina relief efforts. Dr. Kennedy is definitely promoting a bunch of antievolutionary baloney, but also is promoting Katrina relief efforts. In fact, some more fundamentalist individuals condemn evangelicals as heretically liberal, being soft on evolution. The media is not very reliable as a source on science nor religion. The NABT has a good summary of the situation in their review of "Of Pandas and People" at http://www.nabt.org/sub/evolution/panda1.asp It (the NABT, not the bad textbook) classifies evangelicals into several subgroups of response to evolution (for and against, activist/passive, etc.). The basic issue is that, _as paleontologists_, we care about good science and not about philosophical or religious beliefs, although they may provide a useful context for doing good science (e.g., by providing motivation to be truthful and hardworking). Personally, we might not like it if someone rips peoples' hearts out as a religious ceremony, but paleontologically it's only rather odd taphonomy. Young earth and antievolutionary claims are contrary to the paleontological evidence. The merits or lack thereof of evangelicalism, atheism, or any other metaphysical view as a whole are not scientific issues and should be distinguished from criticism of bad science or affirmation of good science that may be associated with any particular view. -- Dr. David Campbell 425 Scientific Collections Building Department of Biological Sciences Biodiversity and Systematics University of Alabama, Box 870345 Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0345 USA
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