Reader’s Diary

Kenneth R. Miller

Does evolution contradict Biblical faith? This isn’t a question that has much concerned me. Obviously - to me, at least, and to the Catholic Church - God can do what He wants using any mechanism He cares to use. However, recent assaults on science by American fundamentalist Christians have used the argument that evolution itself is a suspect “theory”, whether one believes in a Creator or not. Since most of us aren’t well informed about current thinking in biology, we have no way to refute the fundamentalists’ arguments. The problem is exacerbated by the reluctance of scientists to even engage in the debate.

In “Finding Darwin’s God” biologist Kenneth R. Miller takes on both anti-evolutionists and atheist scientists. He handily disposes of the “young earth” creationists, clearly explaining the science behind the dating of the universe (and of our planet). He then goes on to debunk the arguments used by “old earth” creationists and the advocates of “Intelligent Design”. He writes plainly and avoids polemics and ad hominem attacks. Miller does not spare his colleagues in the scientific community. He acknowledges that many of them are atheists and that they go far beyond their areas of expertise when they draw philosophical conclusions from their scientific discoveries. He also acknowledges that evolution in the hands of such people can and is used to attack faith.

After reading the first part of the book, the reader is confident that there is no scientific argument against evolution. In addition, Miller argues convincingly that to limit God to the ever-smaller areas of biology that science has not explained is to risk eliminating God entirely.

If, as Pope John Paul II said, “truth cannot contradict truth”, and if biology’s story of evolution is true, and if the message (not the details) of Genesis is true, then a believer must come to an understanding that accommodates both scientific truth and revealed truth. That understanding is the topic of the second part of the book. Here Miller, who acknowledges that he is a believer but gives us no information about his creed, argues that not only is there room for revealed truth, but that the very structure of the universe reflects He who created it.

Miller’s theological arguments, though interesting, are less persuasive thn his scientific ones. Despite this, “Finding Darwin’s God” is an important book which should be read by anyone who wants to be able to refute the fundamentalist’s arguments or who is searching for a way to harmonize science and faith.

John L. Allen, Jr.

John Allen is one of the most knowledgeable reporters on the Catholic Church beat. Here he presents a thorough and fair look at the much-maligned Catholic group Opus Dei. Allen portrays Opus Dei as a deeply religious, committed, and perhaps too-reticent group. This reticence, in Allen’s view, is responsible for the group’s reputation as “secretive”. People who think that Opus Dei is a secret society will hardly be disabused of the notion by Allen’s book. More rational readers, however, may come to look at Opus Dei as I did after reading the book: a group of Catholic spiritual athletes who do much good in the world.

Orson Scott Card

What if you could travel to the past from a future wracked by ecological catastrophe? What if you identified Christopther Columbus as the one person who - if you could only influence him - could save your present, even if it meant destroying your world in favor of a better one? These are the questions that Orson Scott Card addresses in “Pastwatch“. The answers are surprising and original, the characters sympathetic, and the book hard to put down. To say much more more would spoil the plot. Suffice it to say this is a must-read for fans of time-travel and alternate history stories.