Elisabeth Hasselbeck on evolution and intelligent design

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 1:21pm

Sherri clearly learned her lesson judging by how little she says during this conversation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6apVG6oGM0

[snl89]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 2:06pm

Haha


Amazingly, I... actually kind of feel similar to Elizabeth on this issue I think. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not religious at all really, and certainly not heavily Christian. But I'm a pretty spiritual person, and I DO believe that there's something out there greater than us (personally I think of it more in terms of energy than in terms of it being a "He"). So yeah, I'd probably agree that there was something bigger than pure science out there when the Big Bang happened.

That said, I AM a practical person, and I do absolutely believe in evolution and all that :) I just.. wouldn't necessarily disagree that all that amazing scientific stuff we've discovered doesn't come from something greater than ourselves.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 2:50pm

I don't have a problem with schools saying that some people believe evolution is the work of some higher power. But it's not fact that it is. It's merely a theory. And that's fine to present that theory in the right context.

I personally believe that it's foolish to think the Bible should be taken literally. It's metaphor at best. I absolutely agree with those who say you can believe in a higher power and evolution--that evolution would be the method to the madness.

It's an age old debate, but religious beliefs belong in religion classes, not science.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 4:38pm

Unfortunately, Jerbs, you worship a more pleasant god than a lot of other people.

Growing up Catholic, there was never any disconnect between God and evolution. I've shed the god beliefs since then, but I know people who still can believe in both without one negating the other. Evangelicals are just doing there part to make sure the country regresses rather than progresses.
Updated On: 12/14/08 at 04:38 PM

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 5:10pm

I get believing in both God and evolution (although I think Elisabeth's argument as to why intelligent design is for real is ridic), but what is Whoopi saying when she says you can believe in evolution and Adam & Eve? What evolution was there if Adam & Eve popped up on Earth as fully formed humans?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 5:37pm

What if Adam and Eve are the missing link?!

[StockardFan]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 6:08pm

Very true, Mr. Midwest!

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 6:48pm

I spend lots of time, probably too much, trying to figure out how it all happened.

The practical side of me cannot fathom a "person" up there. Who created that person? Does he/she fly around?

But, on the other side of the coin, when I see things occur which are unexplainable, well, I say this-"the universe caused this to happen." LOL!

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 6:55pm

Jerby--nice song!

Maybe the problem is with the term intelligent design. You can certainly have independent beliefs about God and think that God comes into evolution, but I don't think Christianity is compatible. The implication is that a God has a plan, that it does things for a certain purpose. This doesn't really explain the dinosaurs, or species who become extinct because they are evolutionary dead ends. Why would God waste? If animals don't have souls, what's the point?

I think the better term would be the Intelligent Experimenter. I coined it here, folks. I think a lot of people like to imagine that God is a guiding hand in life, and maybe evolution is God's big experiment? He didn't get people right the first time, he had to drown most of them. But it's hard to make that leap of faith, to think of God as an "experimenter"... and that's why I don't think Christianity is, by nature, compatible with the theory of intelligent design. It goes against that whole infallible thing. Or maybe it has to do with the paradox of creating Sin and Hell even though he knows everything we have or will ever think and do...

But people are just gonna go on making up their own religions to suit their political beliefs and superstitions, so why bother?

[Plum]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 12:06am

ETA- I'm ridiculous. Nothing to see here! Updated On: 12/15/08 at 12:06 AM

[Taryn]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 2:35am

It's so funny to me from a religious perspective, because I had questions about early books in the Old Testament, how things worked out (a particular problem I can remember having was with the incest that had to have gone on if the human race started with two people). And my dear father, an Episcopalian priest at the time, sat me down and said that the early books of the bible should be read more as metaphor than fact. Evolution and all of science has always been welcome, studied, and celebrated in my household.

I like this page:



Evolution for Creationists

[Sister George]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 4:12am

Surely Elisabeth Hasselbeck is living proof of the absence of 'intelligent' design?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 12:35pm

She admitted to being a "bad Christian" because she doesn't read the Bible as much as she should. Any bets on that she probably never attends church (except on Holidays), and is really just a Christian in name only, because she's straight, Republican, pro-life and anti-gay?

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 12:56pm

"Christian in name only"

That can be applied to many, many 'Christians' who would run over their grandmother to get out of church paking lot before the crowds.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 1:45pm

Well, MOST Christians are Christian in name only. Most people don't follow all the rules (and even those with best intentions are just making themselves feel better by trying to make the god of Abraham relevant 2000 years later) but give someone a chance to step on a queer and they're all about the lord!

Posted: 12/15/08 at 1:50pm

it seems like Elisabeth has a stupid opinion on everything. Can someone PLEASE ask her what she thinks of "Mommie Dearest"???