Newsletter 126
Open Letter To Robert Yates
Dear Robert
I feel I should respond to your article on Darwin and Darwinism in the last CNHS newsletter. Your otherwise excellent and stimulating work was slightly marred by the explanation of “creationists”.
There are, of course, some who believe in the literal seven day creation as they interpret the book of Genesis. These are Young Earth Creationists “YEC”. I must confess, I have never in over fifty years of discussion with them, come across any who believe in Atlantis.
Creationists, rather than “YEC’s” are those of us who see Darwin as the “how” and God as the “who” with no conflict between the two. Professor Sam Berry, Emeritus professor of genetics at University College London, and former President of the Linnean Society and the British Ecological Society would be one of these, as would Francis Collins who from 1993 to 2008 was Director of the Human Genome Research Institute at Bethesda, Maryland. There are several others, Dr Paul Marston who lectures locally at the University of Central Lancashire and Denis Alexander, Chairman of the Molecular Immunology Department at the Brabham Institute, Cambridge.
In the year in which we rightly celebrate the contribution of the genius that was Darwin, could we not also agree with Francis Collins who wrote the following. “Should we not collectively put aside the unproductive and shrill battles that occupy the conversation about science and faith, and seek a harmonious way to understand the truth that is written in both of God’s books – the Book of God’s words (the Bible) and the Book of God’s works (Nature)”
David Beattie
North West Regional Coordinator
A Rocha UK
Christians in Conservation
david.beattie@arocha.org
David Beattie