The Dangers Of Taking Religion Literally | State Of Grace | Refinery29 - video Dailymotion

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On this episode of State Of Grace, our host, Grace Baldridge explores the conflict between faith and science. Many Christian Fundamentalists believe that the Evolution Theory is against the teaching of their God. Press play to see what Grace uncovers here!  ABOUT SERIES State Of Grace is a series that explores the intersection of human rights, sexuality, and faith. Host Grace Baldridge dives into controversial societal realities that Americans face everyday and how to navigate the modern world while remaining faithful.   ABOUT REFINERY29  Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life. http://refinery29.com/  RELATED CONTENT The Life Threatening Dangers Of Gay Conversion Therapy https://youtube.com/watch?v=HL5ThApf0IA The Scary Reality Of Sex Education In Alabama https://youtube.com/watch?v=j3ej5JBa95E The Dark Reality Of Celebrity Endorsed Mega-Churches https://youtube.com/watch?v=KLuB7fvMlhc  SUBSCRIBE TO REFINERY29 Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29  TALENT Follow Grace Baldridge on Instagram: https://instagram.com/gracebaldridge/ Follow Unbothered on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29unbothered/ Follow OnHerTurf on Instagram: https://instagram.com/onherturf/ Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/

Transcript

00:00In your field of work, solve it right now for us, how did we get here?

00:04You know, I'm the wrong guy to ask that.

00:06Oh, man. Okay, well, I'll wrap it up, guys.

00:10Where did we come from? And how did we get here?

00:13Humans have been debating the origins of the universe since, well, forever.

00:18Norse mythology says that the first humans were made out of driftwood found by the gods.

00:22The Ethiopian creation story tells of a creator god named Wok,

00:26who created mountains by raining fire on the Earth for seven years.

00:30And the Christian Bible says God created light on day one, plants in sea on day three,

00:35birds and sea animals on day five, humans came next, and on the seventh day, he rested.

00:40Relatable.

00:42However, since the 1880s, the scientific community has proven the theory of evolution

00:47as a reliable model for how life on Earth was and continues to be created.

00:51Evolution says that human lineage diverged from apes at least seven million years ago.

00:57So, a little different than fish on day five.

01:01Personally, I've never had an issue accepting evolution as fact, despite being a Christian.

01:06However, some people feel differently.

01:08Really differently.

01:09The majority of Americans believe that science and religion are often in conflict.

01:14So, I want to look at what fuels this ongoing debate.

01:17Does believing in science somehow compromise a person's faith?

01:21And does believing in God prevent someone from engaging in science?

01:25Full disclosure, I've failed science class multiple times.

01:29I mean, I can say this, but these are definitely gay birds.

01:33So, in preparation for this episode, I needed a crash course in some of the terms being tossed around in

01:38this debate.

01:38Maybe I'll start off with a basic.

01:42Oh no.

01:43What is creationism?

01:45Creationism is the belief that the creation story in the Bible is real.

01:50In that there were six 24-hour days and we got like land, animals, sea animals, humans, birds.

02:00And then on the seventh day, God rested.

02:03He was like, no more, I'm exhausted.

02:04And that is creationism.

02:07Willy, if you're going to get up, go around.

02:11What's Darwinism?

02:13Darwinism is the belief that we all evolved through natural selection and survival of the fittest.

02:22We're talking about your ancestors. Do you have anything to say?

02:26Safe to say I pretty much know all the terms now, so it's time to talk to some real experts.

02:30One of the coolest things here is that sometimes when the dinosaurs went down in the mud, you get impressions

02:36of their skin.

02:36So we know.

02:37Oh, that's insane.

02:40What?

02:40You know what their skin looked like.

02:42Oh, I just got chills.

02:43That's so weird.

02:43These are actual imprints of dinosaur skin with a magnifying glass.

02:47That's how they know they're lizard-y type things.

02:50Yeah.

02:51This is Dr. Jody Martin, the Associate Vice President, Research and Curator of Crustacea here at the museum.

02:57What is your view on evolution?

03:00It's a study of how life diversifies over time.

03:03It's a very broad, overreaching part of the biological sciences.

03:09More so than that, it's the framework that unites biology.

03:12Have you spoken with people who are scientists who also believe in creationism?

03:18And how has that conversation gone?

03:20I've not really run into somebody who is a really active, practicing, publishing scientist

03:24who is also a young Earth creationist.

03:27They have been told, this is what you should believe.

03:30They have read, this is what you should believe.

03:32What they are scared about is evolution and anything that, to them, would threaten their faith.

03:40So when did the clash between science and religion in the United States really begin?

03:48Time for a State of Grace lightning round.

03:51Pre-Industrial Revolution, it was easy to view the world as timeless, eternal and unchanging.

03:56Nobody had phones, there was no promise of tomorrow and people were living in the now.

03:59But the 1800s were all about exploration and scientific discovery, baby.

04:04And the gag of the season came when Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species

04:08and introduced the theory of evolution to the world.

04:10The response from the Christian community was largely, not great.

04:13Darwin's theory directly contradicted church teachings on creation and challenged God's sovereignty.

04:18So around the turn of the 20th century, a guy named William Jennings Bryan launched a full-fledged crusade against

04:23evolution.

04:24This famously led to the Scopes Trial, in which a Tennessee teacher, John Scopes,

04:28broke what was then state law by teaching evolution in a public school.

04:32Scopes lost the ruling, but public opinion turned quickly in favor of evolution.

04:36Since then, the evolution versus creationism debate has returned to trial numerous times.

04:40The common denominator in all these cases is that teaching evolution somehow undermines the power of God.

04:49Despite the legal rulings and scientific evidence supporting evolution,

04:5340% of Americans still believe in creationism.

04:56It's really hard for me to wrap my mind around that statistic, so it's time to put a face to

05:00the numbers.

05:01My name is William James Harreth, but my friends call me Willie.

05:05Yay!

05:05You can call me Willie.

05:06Gesture to me, I'm taking the letters.

05:07That's right.

05:08Okay, good.

05:08You're my friend.

05:09Willie is a husband, father, evangelist, and author of the book, What is Evolution?,

05:14which argues that there is no scientifically agreed upon definition of evolution,

05:18making it unlawful to be taught in public schools.

05:22I believe that the deep questions in life are extremely important,

05:24and one of the biggest ones is, how did we get here?

05:28How did we get here?

05:29Yes, how did we get here?

05:31How did we get here?

05:32How did we get here?

05:33You gotta answer it, I don't know.

05:35What do you think, man?

05:36Well, pop culture said that evolution is true, and I went to college.

05:39Like, I'm no dummy, so I just kind of thought that maybe God kind of used evolution,

05:46until I started getting questions from a lot of my students.

05:50So I thought, I need to go on a quest.

05:52I need to start reading about this and trying to figure out what it is.

05:55I discovered that it is completely undefined, unscientific, and unlawful to be taught in public school.

06:01But there are definitions online.

06:03Like, in preparation for this episode, like, I found many definitions for evolution.

06:07Right.

06:08Like, yeah, oh, there's totally definitions for evolution, but they conflict.

06:12Every time I would study evolution, it's almost an explanation of saying,

06:15hey, listen, this is how everything came into being in the absence of a creator God.

06:21And so I wasn't seeing that symmetry that I was hoping for.

06:25I was hoping God was in control of this evolutionary fact,

06:28but then I started realizing that, no, there's no room for God in evolution.

06:33It is natural selection, right?

06:36It's not supernatural selection.

06:38And God—

06:38Although that would be amazing.

06:40That would be cool.

06:41That would be like, pfft, unicorns.

06:43Evolution can't tell us how species emerge into existence.

06:46Evolution can't tell us what the origin of life is.

06:49Evolution can't tell us how the universe came into existence.

06:53And the only thing that makes sense is that there is something outside of the situation.

06:59So what does it look like when a biblical account of human history is treated with greater reverence than scientific

07:06discovery?

07:08Right now we are headed to the Creation and Earth History Museum,

07:11and it is dedicated to the biblical account of earth, science, and history.

07:16They asked that we not film and bring cameras, which of course we're going to respect.

07:21It's weird. It feels a bit like a spy mission.

07:24Definitely a difference between our welcome at the Natural History Museum versus this.

07:30I am really excited to go, look around, see what sort of information they have to offer.

07:36I have no idea what to expect.

07:57That was...

08:00That was a thing. I have a lot to process.

08:03I really appreciated the transparency of the museum.

08:07You know, you walk in and you immediately know that this is a biblically-based perspective.

08:13A literal biblical interpretation of a story of creation.

08:18So, you know, we got the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Adam and Eve, the Six-Day Creation, and it's

08:26all presented there.

08:28So, in that sense, it's nice that it's transparent.

08:32You kind of know immediately what you're getting into.

08:34They really hammer home that evolution is not consistent with a Christian belief system.

08:42It felt very fear-based. And it was very much about disproving evolution.

08:48And I didn't get the sense when we were going through the Natural History Museum.

08:53At any point in time, did they even bring up the creation story?

08:57Why would they? They don't need to. Because their theory holds up to inspection.

09:02Do you think it's possible to be a Christian and also believe in evolution?

09:06I think that it's possible because I did it. I was a Christian that believed in evolution.

09:10I think it is in conflict with Proverbs 13, 5.

09:15It says that the righteous hate what is false.

09:18Ironically, this same verse might be said by a Christian explaining the validity of evolution.

09:23How do you make sense of the creation story in Christianity and then also evolution?

09:29A way to rephrase that question is, do I interpret the Bible literally?

09:34Yes.

09:35And I don't.

09:35Okay.

09:36Most theologians don't.

09:39Your faith, your nationality, your gender, your race, this is kind of who you are.

09:44Science is more of what you do.

09:45So what's at stake when science and religion are pit against each other?

09:49Both sides of the argument seem to clash in the classroom, so I guess it's time to go back to

09:54school.

09:54Do you remember learning about evolution?

09:56When evolution was brought up, it was either to mock it or to call it evil, but there was never

10:04much information given about it.

10:06I visited the classroom of Dr. Donna Nofziger, a molecular biologist and associate professor of biology here at Pepperdine University.

10:16When did you really start learning about what evolution is?

10:21It really was on my own that I started diving deep because I knew I wanted to be a scientist

10:26and I said, okay, I'm not going to be fearful anymore.

10:29So I started reading books and reading books and reading books.

10:31But I did it all in secret because I thought I was a bad Christian.

10:35I still remember sitting on the couch and coming to the point in all this study and just feeling the

10:40weight of evidence.

10:41The evidence, I did not want to accept it, frankly.

10:44It was so overwhelming.

10:46What was some of the evidence that stuck out to you?

10:49I remember coming to this realization that in order for evolution, this theory of evolution not to be true or

10:55have it to be fraudulent,

10:57chemists would have to be wrong, physicists would have to be wrong, biologists would have to be wrong.

11:02All these people in disciplines for decades and decades and decades, they all have to be wrong.

11:08I just remember everything just clicking into place.

11:11And then I waited for my faith, you know, and then I'm saying, oh, I'm still a Christian.

11:15I still love Jesus.

11:16One of the mottos at my university is the truth has nothing to fear from inspection.

11:21Once I accepted and started understanding evolution, I understand God's love for his creation a lot more.

11:27I understand grace a lot more.

11:29I understand the awesomeness of God's power a lot more.

11:32It is profound and beautiful.

11:34Yeah, I feel like you're blowing my mind right now.

11:36So how did we all get to be on this rock flying through space?

11:40And what does it all mean?

11:41Science offers us a lot of explanations and evidence about our creation.

11:45But the belief in a divine creator is really an unknown variable.

11:49I grew up in a Presbyterian home.

11:51I'm practicing Christian today.

11:52I've never seen any reason for an incompatibility between science and faith.

11:56The boundaries drawn between God and science, or some combination of the two, will look different from person to person.

12:03But when we allow this debate to shut down conversations, we limit our potential to understand each other,

12:09and this flying rock we're on, a little more deeply.

12:12Thank you for watching Refinery29.

12:15For more videos click here, and to subscribe click here.

The Dangers Of Taking Religion Literally | State Of Grace | Refinery29

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