I used to read Blag Hag because I believe in reading a variety of viewpoints. I had to stop, however, because any time I commented and expressed my shock at the bad behavior of conservative Christians, I had people essentially say, “Thanks for speaking up and by the way, you’re a twit for believing what you do.” Yeah. Thanks. It’s not like I had to struggle with my beliefs and it’s not like I’ve held the atheist viewpoint at any point in my life, right? (I have. I’m a convert to Christianity. Ask me about it some time.)
Having said all that, I heard about the Reason Rally and because I subscribe to Adam Savage’s Twitter feed, I saw several links to his speech there. As I’m a fan of the show, I decided to take a listen. I was not disappointed. (Warning: some questionable language)
Why is this speech not threatening to me as a Christian? Well, he’s not aiming to be offensive for one thing. Unlike P.Z. Myers, he’d like to understand viewpoints that differ from his. He wants to get along. This is refreshing.
Another reason this speech is not threatening: he sees the incredible in the advances we’ve made in the sciences and how awesome they are even if he doesn’t credit the divine for them. He sees the good in people. Granted, this is in opposition to us being sinful and broken people but it’s better than being called a bigot and closed-minded because I happen to acknowledge that I believe in sin.
I also happen to be OK with the dichotomy of Genesis and the theory of evolution. I’m not a young earth Creationist. I never have been and I probably never will be. Evolution was the part of Biology I liked the best and the unit test on which I scored the highest. It doesn’t mean that I don’t see God’s fingerprints in Creation nor does it mean that I completely negate Genesis. The Big Bang theory makes sense and is not in direct opposition to Genesis 1:1.
Most of all, I’m OK with the speech because I believe in listening to other people if they’re willing to at least entertain the idea that I’m entitled to my own beliefs.
Sometimes I feel like Paul at the Areopagus (sometimes translated as Mars Hill) because I see people putting science on a pedestal and sometimes in talking to people, I see something in them that wants to believe in something bigger than themselves but they feel like they’ll be ridiculed for doing so. Part of my struggle with Christianity in the years before I converted was how to reconcile the empirical data I find in science with the fact that the Bible states that the Lord created everything. It’s not my thorn but it’s something with which I wrestled — my tentatio. The way I ended up reconciling it is to accept the things we can empirically prove but to also accept that there will be things we cannot explain and that it is perhaps not my place to know the origin of everything. One annoying thing that western Christianity does is parse out every mystery of God — Orthodox theology is more content to let some things remain a mystery and I find that it is easier to work with that particular paradigm rather than the one in which everything is parsed.
??For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,?? declares the LORD. ??As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
–Isaiah 55:8-11 (NIV)
And I seriously agree with the guy who comes on at the end of the video: it would have been cool if Adam had blown something up. It is not, however, prudent to do so on the Washington Mall at this point in time.