Creationism Petitions

Annual Conference is over--a very wonderful Annual Conference with a tremendous level of harmony.  One subject of debate was a conversation about Creationism due to three petitions submitted by John Moneyham of Forest Park UMC in Panama City, along with his pastor, John Friedman and his District Superintendent, Gary Daniel.  I am a member of the Committee of Resolutions and Petitions and had a front row seat on this conversation.

I'm grateful for the way in which the conversation was held.  Mr. Wesley taught us about "holy conferencing." He believed that we learn from God when we gather to hear from each other in a spirit of openness and love.  I think our conversation mostly was focused on listening and learning rather than fighting and winning.

Though Mr. Moneyham and I saw the issues differently, I was pleasantly surprised that the process gave me opportunity to become friends with him.  He's a delightful guy, even if he's very determined.  His motives are terrific.  He teaches Sunday School for teenagers.  As questions arose among his students about evolution and creation, he researched the position of the United Methodist Church and, as a Creationist, was disappointed to find a pro-evolutionary stance.  He feels that a person can be Christian and believe in theistic evolution, but he feels that our statements preclude the beliefs of a person who believes in a literal six day creation.  I disagree with him--I think that our statements make room for anyone who affirms the Affirmation of Faith's confession: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, CREATOR of heaven and earth."  I was opposed to the petitions for many reasons, but mostly because I felt that they limited the options for how a faithful Christian can think about God's creating.  I was encouraged to know that this was not Mr. Moneyham's intention and that he wants a church that allows us to think and let think on these issues as much as I do.  Even on the issue of the Clergy Letter Project (of which I am a signee), Mr. Moneyham does not oppose much of the language of the letter itself, and he opposes the letter because he reads it differently than I do.  He believes it only makes room for darwinian atheistic evolution and that it undermines the authority of the Bible.  I believe that the letter acknowledges that faithful Christians believe in the Bible and its authority, and believe in God as Creator though they can read scripture and come to different conclusions as to how God creates and is creating.

I was disappointed that Mr. Moneyham questioned Rev. Kathy Knight's faithfulness to the position of the committee as a whole.  Kathy had a very difficult job.  Mr. Moneyham is a member of the Committee on Resolutions and Petitions and he submitted three petitions.  This gave him an opportunity to monopolize the time of the committee arguing for his petitions.  We spent more than an hour discussing his petitions and had less than fifteen minutes to discuss all the others.  (This raises a big question in my mind--I think that it's inappropriate for a member of the committee to submit a petition or resolution and I think we need to spell this out in the Standing Rules.  The whole purpose of the committee is to have a disinterested group to study and give guidance to the issues on behalf of the whole conference.)  Kathy had a very difficult job--she had to share basic rationale for the committee's recommendations and she had to condense an hour long conversation to a few short sentences.  She did an amazing job and was very faithful.  I'm deeply grateful for her wisdom and leadership, and I'm impressed that she never got defensive when integrity was questioned in the way it was.  My one regret from the whole process is that I did not get up to defend her.  If the conversation had not shifted so quickly to substance than I would have certainly done so.

This conversation is meaningful and important.  It's a conversation about what is necessary and fundamental and what is not.  It's a conversation about the Gospel--is the preaching of the Gospel the only burden we will put on those who are challenged to give their lives to Christ, or will we add a particular view of science and origins on top of it?

It is also an issue of the authority of Scripture--Will we trust Scripture?   How should Scripture be read well and faithfully?  How do we rightly divide the Word of truth?

It's a question of the interaction of faith and culture.  What role does faith have in the shaping of culture and what means are appropriate to influence culture?  Is it appropriate for Christians to use their influence to tell science teachers what to teach in the classroom?  If so, should we be surprised if the science teachers want to tell us what to say in our churches?

I've recently been asked to become a part of the Conference Board of Church and Society.  Dr. R. Lawson Bryan shared with me that he felt that this important issue would be a very helpful one for the Board to take up.  He feels that we could be helpful in bringing together people who could teach us how to speak faithfully, wisely, and intelligently on these issues, and could offer resources for churches to discuss these issues with their people.  I certainly will make this a priority in my time on the Board.

The Conference Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry presented Huntingdon College President J. Cameron West the Francis Asbury Award for contribution to campus ministry, and in his acceptance speech, he offered Huntingdon College as a resource for this conversation.  It seems to me that this is one of the primary reasons we ought to have a United Methodist College--to serve as a place where people with good minds can help us think well as faithful Christians in ways that impact our congregations and our people who live as disciples in the world.  We have United Methodists scholars who are trained to teach us how to be disciples by loving the Lord with all our minds.  Huntingdon has some great resources--Erastus Dudley is a science guy, but he is also a faithful Christian who makes a tremendous contribution to the spiritual life of the college.  Jason Borders is a fine New Testament scholar and deeply committed believer who began is training to be a scientist before he switched over to  biblical studies.  Frank Buckner is the head of the Religion faculty and this question is at the center of his academic expertise.  These fine Christian scholars love to share in local churches (Jason and Frank are ordained UMC clergy).  I encourage folks who want to think these issues through to avail themselves to these folks as well as the many other fine science and religion faculty at Huntingdon.

As a beginning--Let me offer two resources I have found helpful on this subject.  Our own Dr. R. Lawson Bryan spent an extraordinary amount of time (over a year of preparation) researching a sermon series on faith and science.  Dr. Bryan began his education in the sciences before he was called to ministry.  He used the preparation for this sermon series as a basis for a very fine, very accessible, short and thoughtful book on the subject entitled Pursuing Science, Finding Faith.  It's available on Amazon (here's a link): http://www.amazon.com/Pursuing-Science-Finding-Faith-Lawson/dp/0984942602/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370530384&sr=1-1&keywords=faith+and+science+lawson+bryan

I have also led a congregation in a study of Adam Hamilton's Confronting the Controversies and found it very helpful.  It has an entire chapter on the question of evolution being taught in the public schools.  It also began as a sermon series, at the largest church in our denomination.  The very articulate 18-year-old who spoke on the petitions at Annual Conference references how helpful he had found Hamilton's work.  Here's a link to that book: http://www.amazon.com/Confronting-Controversies-Biblical-Perspectives-Issues/dp/0687346002/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370530627&sr=1-1&keywords=confronting+the+controversies

I look forward to seeing where this important conversation leads us!