Asking the Clergy: How does evolution square with your religion?
Rabbi William Berman, Commack Jewish Center:
Even though there are many different views about the nature of evolution itself, it is clear that biblical accounts surely are not scientific. The possibility and reconciliation depends on one's view of biblical literature. To me, the Bible is not meant to be a science primer or even an accurate history book. It is, instead, a record of human/divine encounter and how people react to such encounters and how they thereby interpret historical events. To take the Bible seriously, it cannot be taken literally. Otherwise, one recedes into a mindless and indefensible fundamentalism.
The story of creation is religious poetry meant to inspire and to make the point that, whatever the process and how long it took, there was a cosmic force somehow behind it. To present a complex scientific description of how things came to be would not elicit the same sense of awe nor would it have behavioral implications. The Genesis story, as all biblical stories, is concerned with instilling a sense of awe in the face of reality and influencing how people conduct themselves in their lives. It is not, as I said, there to teach us the details of how things actually happened.
Pastor Paul Britton, Gloria Dei Evangelical Lutheran Church, Huntington Station:
Martin Luther called the Scriptures "the manger [cradle] of the Word." So, in the poetry of the first creation story in Genesis we see the truth (word) that the first holy creation of God is not a place or person, but a time, the Sabbath (so sorely forgotten by most of us). In the parable of the second creation story, we discover the ultimate course of all the brokenness we experience. Our desire always to be in control (to be like God) has led to cultures of violence and institutions dedicated to the continuance of that violence. In the third creation story, the monologue in Job, we are reminded that we are too small in every way to understand and comprehend God. All we know are the few revelations God has shared, enough for faith.
As Scripture is the cradle of the word, science is the cradle of God's work. The poetry of mathematics, the parables of physics and astronomy and the monologue of biology reveal the hand of God as the cradle of the word reveals the heart of God. Can we trust and have faith and also be understanding of knowledge and theories of science? Yes we can. Our faith is not in contradiction to our reason. Both are ways of God to us and us to our God. The spirit of God comes to us from both cradles.
The Rev. Mark Lukens, Bethany Congregational Church, East Rockaway, and chairman of The Interfaith Alliance, Long Island chapter:
The Bible is not a science textbook. Its account of our origins tells us that the universe was brought about by the word and will of a loving God and that the crown of that creation, we human beings, were created in love to live in loving relationship with God and God's creation.
Evolution is a scientific theory that tries to explain how that process of creation occurred. God created us as seekers after knowledge, both about the great moral and spiritual questions: the "whys" of our existence, and about the "hows" as well, the laws and processes of the physical world. Science doesn't conflict with religious faith, it helps to inform it. The more we know, the more we struggle to integrate our quest for empirical knowledge with the wisdom and teaching of divine revelation, the stronger our faith becomes.
Father Dimitrios Moraitis, St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Shrine Church, Greenlawn:
The Orthodox Church is not in conflict with anthropology and science. We believe that the world and the universe were created by God. The seven-day creation story doesn't have to conflict with science. A day in God's time may be millions of years in earth time. Since the animals were created before God created man and woman in his image and likeness, there was a distinction between when the animals were on earth and when man came to earth. So, we don't get caught up in the details in terms of missing links and evolution as much as we focus on the fact that humanity is distinct from the rest of the animal world, made in God's image and likeness. It is humanity's free will, the ability to choose, that separates humanity from the animal kingdom, whose members act on instinct.
