Finding Darwin's God

jread
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Finding Darwin's God

            The book, Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth R. Miller, has been an incredibly enjoyable read for me. I just finished this book less than an hour ago, and I wish to write  short commentary on what I thought the book did well. I began reading this book as an alternative viewpoint, having just finished Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett a little over a month ago. I want you all to know that I enjoyed and agreed with a lot of what Dennett said in his book. The only difference between what Dennett says in his book and myself, is that I am a theist. In spite of the available purely naturalistic explanation of how life evolved on this planet without the hand of divinity, I still choose to believe in God. While reading Dennett's amazing book, I felt a little like a heretic. I am consulting with the enemy to religion! I am learning about the ways of the Devil! Science seeks to destroy religion by explaining God away! These concerns were some of the ideas that we going through my mind as I was reading Dennett's book. However, once I finished Dennett's book, and accomplished my first endeavor into learning about evolution, I didn't feel like I had read anything evil or inherently against the belief in God. Instead, I found that what I had just read was an honest exploration of what the scientific evidence humbly has to say concerning the life here on this planet. And furthermore, I felt that what I had just read was right. Even though I am no expert in science, I still thought that evolution answers questions that I had long been perplexed by in such a simple and clear way, that it would be harder to continue to deny evolution than it would be to accept it.

            Now, with an unwillingness to deny evolution after learning what it truly says, I wished to read about someone who was in the same position that I was in. After a lot of searching through garbage on Amazon.com concerning "evolution and god" I finally came upon Finding Darwin's God. The reviews spoke highly of the book's explanation of evolution and honestly evaluated the theistic viewpoints. While reading the book, I found everything Miller said about the theory of evolution jived with what I had read in Dennett's book; I found this fact quite comforting. I knew that, at least, I wasn't going to be duped at a scientific level. Having gotten to the later chapters of Miller's book, I began to come upon the theistic viewpoints and arguments. Oh and just to note, it was quite enjoyable to read a theist's blasting of Creationists and I.D.er's attempts at scientific arguments. Ok, back to my point.

          I found the theistic perspectives that Miller brought out in relation towards evolution and quantum uncertainty an incredible mix of science and theology that I had never heard before. The arguments about how quantum uncertainty and evolution could support positions concerning free-will were truly fascinating to me. Importantly, I want anyone reading this to note that I am not saying that I think Miller has found the right answer, or magical solution to the free-will vs determinism debate. I am merely attempting to communicate that I found his attempt at the issue very original and refreshing. I also liked how he challenged the anti-evolutionist theists to continue to doubt evolution and remain consistent in their beliefs of how God presumably operates. Essentially, I found Miller's arguments very enjoyable and at the very least, entertaining. Of course, the views that readers will have on the entirety of Finding Darwin's God rests partly on their respective viewpoints concerning the status of God. However, I would argue that even an atheist would enjoy reading Miller's book, if not just to admire his attempts to rationalize God's position in relation to science.  

           But I want to make my point clear, I am not writing this to convince an atheist to read a theist's book on science and God. Rather, I am writing this to get the attention of theists who are either anti-evolution, creationists, or I.D.er's. This book provides the answers to almost every anti-evolutionist claim that I knew of before reading Miller's book. Truly, the theory of evolution is not the antithesis of God. I believed this after I finished reading Dennett's book, who is an atheist author, but I didn't know how to consistently maintain this view. After finding Miller's book and reading it cover to cover, I found a truly fortunate example of how to maintain my faith, while accepting scientific explanations of our existence. I find what Miller has to say as incredibly compelling and I just want to leave this post with a quote from his book where I think Miller nails home the advantage of spiritually coexisting with science:

            "If a lack of scientific explanation is proof of God's existence, the counterlogic is unimpeachable: a successful scientific explanation is

             an argument against God."

 

The implication that we should put Darwinism on trial overlooks the fact that Darwinism has always been on trial within the scientific community. -- From Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth R. Miller

Chaos and chance don't mean the absence of law and order, but rather the presence of order so complex that it lies beyond our abilities to grasp and describe it. -- From From Certainty to Uncertainty by F. David Peat


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Sure. Miller's a great guy,

Sure. Miller's a great guy, he does damn good videos and I highly reccommend all of them. His book was enjoyable for me, very enjoyable. I found some of the things, such as the discussion of fibrinogen, somewhat sparing in technical details, but obviously that is a completely and utterly skewed veiwpoint since I work in exactly the same field as he does, and so my perspective on "what is not technical enough" will be very different. I never understood why the book never got more attention. I suppose Dawkin's book, for example, got attention because he basically revolutionized the entire field of biology in 1976. Still, the book (Miller's) should be more widely read.

"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.

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deludedgod wrote:Sure.

deludedgod wrote:

Sure. Miller's a great guy, he does damn good videos and I highly reccommend all of them. His book was enjoyable for me, very enjoyable. I found some of the things, such as the discussion of fibrinogen, somewhat sparing in technical details, but obviously that is a completely and utterly skewed veiwpoint since I work in exactly the same field as he does, and so my perspective on "what is not technical enough" will be very different. I never understood why the book never got more attention. I suppose Dawkin's book, for example, got attention because he basically revolutionized the entire field of biology in 1976. Still, the book (Miller's) should be more widely read.

Thanks for the comment deluded. It's good to know that someone who knows the subject under discussion well endorses the book. I am currently recommending the read to many of my friends and acquaintences. My next read is going to be The Language of God by Francis S. Collins. I am very curious to hear another perspective. Oh and then my next book due is going to be a non-theistic scientific book called The Red Queen by Matt Ridley. Hamby recommended this book to me. Have you heard of either of my slated reads deluded? I really want to make sure that my groundwork reading is of the highest caliber available.

The implication that we should put Darwinism on trial overlooks the fact that Darwinism has always been on trial within the scientific community. -- From Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth R. Miller

Chaos and chance don't mean the absence of law and order, but rather the presence of order so complex that it lies beyond our abilities to grasp and describe it. -- From From Certainty to Uncertainty by F. David Peat


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deludedgod wrote:Sure.

deludedgod wrote:

Sure. Miller's a great guy, he does damn good videos and I highly reccommend all of them. His book was enjoyable for me, very enjoyable. I found some of the things, such as the discussion of fibrinogen, somewhat sparing in technical details, but obviously that is a completely and utterly skewed veiwpoint since I work in exactly the same field as he does, and so my perspective on "what is not technical enough" will be very different. I never understood why the book never got more attention. I suppose Dawkin's book, for example, got attention because he basically revolutionized the entire field of biology in 1976. Still, the book (Miller's) should be more widely read.

Without an atheist attack, the complacent Christians won't see a need for a change in their own views. Why attempt to adapt to scientific evidence if nobody's in your face about you ignoring it? But with this recent atheist offensive, it is ironic that Miller is largely 'on our side', and we could even do ourselves a service by pointing to him precisely to say, "See, you don't have to drop your theism right away. We'll be content if you'll start defending science in the mean time." In fact, I've pointed people to Miller's videos several times, primarily because they are so effective, but also with that strategic point in mind of getting the person to drop their antagonism against science.

I think we may want to look out for opportunities in the future to 'join forces' so to speak with Miller and people like him.

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natural wrote:Without an

natural wrote:

Without an atheist attack, the complacent Christians won't see a need for a change in their own views.

I completely agree with this thinking natural. I wouldn't ask the atheists to stop their onslaught. In fact, I agree with you and think it is an extremely beneficial thing for faith-based belief. I found Miller's book so profound almost entirely based on this very reasoning. First the purely scientific attacks come, and theism retaliates and fails. Theists are left with a choice: reject science or accept science. Next, in comes Miller, showing how the battered by science theist can accept truth and still continue their belief in God. I also really enjoyed how Miller never said that science justifies a belief in God, rather, he shows merely that science can coexist with a belief in God. Which is exactly something that the theists preconceived to be impossible. Go scientists!   

The implication that we should put Darwinism on trial overlooks the fact that Darwinism has always been on trial within the scientific community. -- From Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth R. Miller

Chaos and chance don't mean the absence of law and order, but rather the presence of order so complex that it lies beyond our abilities to grasp and describe it. -- From From Certainty to Uncertainty by F. David Peat


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Miller is awesome.  I was

Miller is awesome.  I was going to ask about this book, his videos are always so good.  Always wondered how he worked out being a  theist, with all the knowledge he has.


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I like Miller, and I loan my

I like Miller, and I loan my copy of Finding Darwin's God to creationists all the time.

 

But I do think he's got his own scientific gaps he's stuffed God in, like neuroscience.

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