The Great Debate

Christmas or Winter Holidays, prayer in schools, hanging the Ten Commandments in our Courthouses and other public places—these are great ongoing controversies in our society. Many say that the Christian faith is under attack.

I have become amused in recent months at the ongoing controversy concerning the teaching of evolution in our schools. In actuality the controversy is nothing new. Ever since Charles Darwin authored his treatise in which he espoused his famous theory there has been a knee jerk reaction among many Christians to his theories.

I recall my fourth grade science class. My fourth grade teacher was a real gem by the name of Gladys Bell. Her husband was a Pentecostal minister. Our fourth grade science book had a brief mention about the age of the earth and the different eras of pre-history. Of course there was mention of evolution.

My teacher told us that we didn’t need to bother learning any of that “hogwash.” Of course I was in the fourth grade so anything that I didn’t need to bother learning I didn’t bother learning.

I was confronted with evolution again a little later in my educational career. I was in high school in the ninth grade. I attended a private school that was operated by a local Southern Baptist Church. My Western Civilization teacher was a United Methodist minister on sabbatical.

We opened our discussion of Western Civilization with a discussion of evolution. My teacher explained to us that one could accept both evolution and the essential truth of the Bible that God was the Creator of the universe. That actually made sense to me.

The truth is that science and faith are not incompatible. In as much as God is omnipotent it is rather foolish for any of us to attempt to say he could not have created the universe in one way or another.

So it is that today we come to the ongoing controversy of teaching evolution in our schools. As I said when I began this column I find the controversy amusing. I find it amusing because as I said accepting evolution does not deny the fact that God is creator of the universe.
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Yet, there is something even more amusing than that. If faith and religion are so important that we must impose religious viewpoints in our schools then why aren’t our churches filled to over flowing every Sunday?

Attendance has been excellent at the First United Methodist Church in Monticello over the past several months. In fact we experienced an eleven percent increase for the year 2005 over the year 2004.

Yet, the fact is there is still room for a few more folks. There are still a few seats in our Sunday School classes as well. I’m pretty sure this is the case for every church of every denomination in our community. Further, I am fairly confident that this is the case in most churches in most communities.

In the last Presidential election the polling data showed the faith and values were the most important issues to a majority of voters. I can’t help but wonder if faith and values are so important why our churches are not busting at the seams.

If it is so important that we call Christmas Christmas and not a winter holiday, if it is so important that our children hear prayer in the name of Jesus, if it is so important that our children understand that God is the Creator of the Universe, if it is so important that we revere the Ten Commandments, then what are all the folk that think this way doing on Sunday morning?

There may be those in our society that are hostile to the Christian faith. In fact it is no doubt true. If one ever expresses any beliefs or convictions there are going to be those who are hostile and opposed to them. Yet, that said, the greatest danger the Christian faith faces in this generation or any generation for that matter is not the hostility of its enemies.

Rather, the greatest danger that is faced by the Christian faith is the indifference and apathy of its followers.