Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

How would Darwin have felt about going into a church to talk about evolution? Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III and Connie Bertka take up this and other questions as they discuss “Darwin and God: Exploring Evolution.”

From the outset, Darwin had both supporters and opponents, both among people of faith and among scientists (many of whom, of course, also have religious beliefs). Bertka believes that Darwin would have turned down a speaking engagement in a church—but because he was a very private man, and not because of reservations about raising the topic in a house of God.

In the early 1800s, when Darwin was born, science and Christianity were more closely linked as academic disciplines. Darwin himself came from a family of physicians and clergy. His own religious views changed—he used the word “fluctuate”—over time.

Darwin did not employ the term “evolution”: instead he described his theory as “descent with modification” from a common ancestor. In his day, it was widely believed that each species was created separately.

What makes evolution a controversial topic? Three things: the uniqueness of humanity, the action of God in nature, and the role of suffering. The result, says Bertka is, that “we . . . have to start to think about a God that actually self-limits God’s own power, and gives creation the freedom and the space to be what it’s going to be: to wander around in time and space and ultimately fulfill its own potential.”

The Christian tradition, in Bertka’s view, presents a similar portrait of God: “a humbling God, a self-giving God, a God that allows creation and humanity to have freedom, that respects the creature as other . . . not to be separate from creation, to be there with creation, to be there in the suffering of creation.” Some theologians today are finding a way to celebrate the idea of evolution, instead of just accepting it.

Darwin was developing his ideas around the same time that “higher criticism”—the idea of more than one human author of the Bible—emerged as a theological question; people were already grappling with disturbing new ideas about God and Scripture. Controversy increased when evolution was introduced to curricula in American public schools. The Scopes monkey trial led to the topic of evolution being banned from many American schools from the 1920s to the 1960s. After the topic returned to textbooks, controversy accompanied, eventually yielding the alternative theory of intelligent design.

Bertka flatly rejects the notion of intelligent design. “Forget that it’s poor science. . . . You know what? It’s poor theology. It reduces God to a ‘god of the gaps,’” Bertka says. Nevertheless, in science curriculum, “Theology doesn’t have to be an issue. In a science classroom, you teach science.”

“A majority of Americans still doubt the credibility of Darwin’s theory of evolution,” Lloyd points out.

“Part of the problem lies in what’s not happening in places like this,” Bertka responds, referring to the church building where she is speaking. “We separate our brain into two halves, and we do our theological thinking over here, and we keep our science over here, and we don’t let the two mix up.” Bertka favors allowing science to influence the way we view the world—along with theology, experience, and other sources of knowledge.

Science does not disprove theology, and theology does not disprove science. The two disciplines are distinct and in many ways compatible.

Connie Bertka is a planetary scientist and former director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Program for Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion. She received her theological training at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., where she also lectures about the intersection of science and religion. Evolution, astrobiology, and science education are among her topics of special interest.

About Connie Bertka

Connie Bertka is a planetary scientist and former director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science&#rsquo;s Program for Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion. She received her theological training at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., where she also lectures on the intersection of science and religion. Evolution, astrobiology, and science education are among her topics of special interest.