[Oe List ...] 6/18/20, Progressing Spirit, Gretta Vosper: Playing for Love in the Time of COVID; Spong revisited

[Judy Lindblad]

Thank you for sharing this.  I am planning to be present in some way for
the Poor People's Assembly and March Saturday.  I am forwarding MAPC
EarthCare Meeting agenda.  Any thoughts will be welcome.  I am also
connecting with some virtual facilitation work with Karen Snyder and folks
in Chicago, California and Denver.
 Are there any Presbyterian Earth Care initiatives I should be aware of?
Did you see the Oprah two night series with African American thought
leaders? It's on YouTube and I found helpful.
Grace and Peace to you and yours, Judy

On Thu, Jun 18, 2020 at 9:51 AM Ellie Stock via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

>
>
>
> View this email in your browser
> <https://mailchi.mp/f097c252ed0b/playing-for-love-in-the-time-of-covid?e=db34daa597>
>
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=9dfacdd2b6&e=db34daa597>
>
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=d4a9f930d6&e=db34daa597>
> Playing for Love in the Time of COVID
>
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=0b5f71a5ba&e=db34daa597>
> Essay by Rev. Gretta Vosper
> June 18, 2020
>
> *Looks like what drives me crazy*
> *Don't have no effect on you--*
> *But I'm gonna keep on at it*
> *Till it drives you crazy, too.*
> Langston Hughes
>
> The world has shifted on its axis since my last article appeared in
> Progressing Spirit. As I write, the number of COVID-19 deaths has passed
> 400,000, a number that shrinks from the reality experienced around the
> globe. As countries attempt to reopen their economies, anti-racism protests
> are sweeping the globe. Immune to neither challenge, we in Canada are
> little more than a quiet simmer when compared to the legitimate rage being
> expressed across America and around the world.
> *Who couldn’t call this one?* It would be lying if we said we didn’t see
> this coming. Maybe the clash of two tragic realities and the exponential
> impact they had on one another. Maybe that was a surprise. But what created
> those independent realities was something we’ve been watching approach in
> slo-mo for a long, long time. The only question was when one or the other
> was finally going to erupt. The only defence against a pre-existing
> knowledge of the approach of these matched threats is ignorance and how
> many of us could really claim that?
>   *The virus* Let’s begin with the virus. There has been a lot of loud
> yelling and much finger pointing at China as the source of the virus, as
> though just being angry at the right people will make everything somehow
> better. In particular, those who often consider themselves above laying
> blame on “a people”, are quick to name “wet markets” like the ones in Wuhan
> province as the origin of the problem. That finger-pointing gets us nowhere
> as these very markets are often the best way for people to get local, fresh
> produce and meats and are among the lowest sources of microbial infections
> outside of Europe, the Americas, and the wealthier countries of the Pacific
> Rim.[1] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftn1> The problem isn’t the wet
> markets; it’s the origins of the food that sometimes shows up in them.
>
> We cannot claim ignorance about the link between humanity’s[2]
> <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftn2> incessant destruction of Earth’s natural
> world and the emergence of novel viruses for which the human body has no
> immunity. In the 1970s, the Ebola virus emerged in South Sudan and the
> Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is believed that the impact of
> deforestation on populations, both human and animal, has led the two toward
> one another at an escalating pace and with devastating results. As humans
> are forced to venture further and further into the wild for food, their
> interaction with and consumption of animals previously unencountered
> provides viral opportunities. As animals lose habitat, particularly bats
> which can carry many viruses without themselves being infected, they move
> into areas where humans are establishing new agricultural industries. The
> pairing of the two can be disastrous.[3] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftn3>
>
> *Black Lives Matter*
> Now let’s look at the images coming to us through news outlets the world
> over: the rising up of defiance against white privilege, not only its
> abuses, but its very existence. Regarding the oppression of Blacks,
> Indigenous people, and People of Colour (BIPOC), well, we white folk can’t
> plead ignorance there, either. We have seen, over and over again, the
> imposition of brutal force upon the black bodies of Americans and other
> populations. We’ve watched videos depicting the seemingly approved police
> practice of shooting first, as if anyone could answer the questions later.
> In February of last year, aspiring rapper, Willie McCoy, was permanently
> silenced for no other reason than being found sleeping in his car in the
> parking lot of a Taco Bell; police shot him 55 times in 3.5 seconds. Read
> that again.
>
> Commentators have suggested that anti-racism protests have swollen in size
> and vehemence because of the sense of release and purpose felt by people
> kept too long idle and in isolation due to the pandemic. That may, indeed,
> be true. But it isn’t the whole truth. It intimates that without COVID-19
> setting the stage, there might have been another wave of indignation, a few
> marches, some judgments and condemnation expressed by Black leaders, and
> then the return to business as usual with an underlying sense of something
> isn’t quite right. After all, the return to normal seems to be what we do
> when it comes to killing Black men and boys. All of us, American or
> otherwise, who have watched graphic videos like the ones that captured the
> cold-blooded “I can’t breathe” murders of Eric Garner and George Floyd,
> walk our streets and go about our lives in varying states of post-traumatic
> stress disorder[4] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftn4>. Our brains cannot
> process the depth of indifference, hatred, and horror even as we who are
> white begin the work of exploring our own complicity, the reality of our
> own investment in white supremacy.[5] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftn5>
>
> The suggestion that the protests are as significant as they are is because
> of the injection of COVID-restlessness discounts the real fuel behind the
> Black Lives Matter protests. It misses, or perhaps intentionally
> downgrades, the anger fueled by the arrogance of the voice magnified by its
> presidential role.  It misses the value of insurgency that marked the
> making of that country and that has found its place and power again. It
> misses the tsunami of fury felt by those who have lived in fear or watched
> it rain down the faces of *their black neighbours*, friends, and family
> members. The painting of BLACK LIVES MATTER on 16th Street in Washington
> was a decided nod to the voices of dissent. The renaming of the square
> “Black Lives Matter Plaza” was a moment of triumph. The announcement of the
> dismantling of the Minneapolis Police Force is a recognition that it is
> time to wash the blood of Black people from the streets for all time,
> streets that, we hope, will never be the same again.
>
> Those protesting at the Black Lives Matter gatherings have no interest in
> a return to normal. Those protesting around the world at the impudence of
> white privilege are drawing their line in the sand. What side of that line
> can we be on? What parts of democracy do our faith communities really
> support? These are the questions we need to ask and address in community
> and with our people. Let the questions come. Sit with them. Feel their
> impudence. Be uncomfortable. Find where you really stand and stand there.
>   *Singing on Zoom* West Hill has been meeting, as have many
> congregations, by Zoom and not just for Board meetings. Our Sunday
> Gatherings have been on Zoom as well. Having already established a robust
> participatory Sunday morning service, Zoom provides us the ability to have
> the back-and-forth that we so often enjoy when we are together in one room.
> True, we are still ironing out the challenges, but the first one we
> realized was that we could not sing together. Live music without the
> benefit of experienced performers and technicians is gawdawful on Zoom.
> [6] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftn6>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> But singing is a significant part of our gatherings. My partner, Scott
> Kearns, has written most of the music that inspires our Sunday mornings.
> It’s been written for communities who choose values over religious beliefs
> in a decidedly contemporary tone (Scott’s a former evangelical and brings
> his musical roots with him). When we sing the music of traditional hymnody,
> new words have been written to the same purpose: uplifting our values and
> reminding one another and ourselves how it is we want to live.
>
> When we realized we couldn’t sing together, we refused to give up the use
> of music in our Gatherings; it is just too important. So we turned to the
> only source of music we thought could offer the same experience even if it
> didn’t involve singing along: YouTube. The greater part of my service
> preparation these days is watching YouTube videos and determining if they
> are inspirational enough for our gatherings. Or clean enough; though I
> forgot to prepare the congregation for the F-bomb on one of the first
> Sundays we used music videos, I’ve warned them since. There are no holds
> barred in this important work.
>   *A Curated List* Here are some of those songs. The first many find a
> focus in the earth and our relationship with it. Then, on May 31st, we
> fall into the abyss of racial injustice; we’re still falling. The themes
> grow out of the events of the day but are also linked to lectionary
> passages (for the following year). All the songs were chosen because they
> speak to the very real realities of these issues that currently face us:
> environmental devastation and its connection to our current pandemic
> situation, and the pain of recognizing white privilege, its power and its
> shame. We must find the courage to work with one another to dismantle it.
> May these songs find a place in your broken heart and invite you to the
> healing work we must undertake together. Click here for Song List.
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=cd53e47358&e=db34daa597>
>  Read online here
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=e9795fad5b&e=db34daa597>
>
> ~ Rev. Gretta Vosper
>
> *About the Author*
> The Rev. Gretta Vosper is a United Church of Canada minister who is an
> atheist. Her best-selling books include *With or Without God: Why The Way
> We Live is More Important Than What We Believe*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=488f45df99&e=db34daa597>,
> and *Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=de0c358672&e=db34daa597>.
> She has also published three books of poetry and prayers. Visit her website
> here
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=7d36a682e2&e=db34daa597>
> .
> ------------------------------
> [1] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftnref1> For more information, check out
> this article and the references contained within it. ” China Is Reopening
> Its Wet Markets. That's Good”, by David Fickling, Bloomberg,
> [2] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftnref2> I use this word, “humanity”, and I
> feel the slight lift of relief. Initially, the sentence read “*our*
> incessant destruction of Earth’s natural world”. But that just feels so
> much more damning. So I edited it to a more remote perspective, to give you
> a little breathing space. If you’re reading this footnote, however, you’ve
> been exposed to the ruse and the bald truth. And now, like me, you might
> feel more responsibly to doing something about it.
> [3] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftnref3> For further reading, check out the
> following *Forbes* article and the references contained within it. “How
> Deforestation Drives the Emergence of Novel Coronaviruses”, by Jeff
> McMahon, Forbes, March 21, 2020.
> https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/03/21/how-deforestation-is-driving-the-emergence-of-novel-coronaviruses/#540284b51723,
> Accessed June 8, 2020.
> [4] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftnref4> My friend and visionary speaker,
> Carrah Quigley, articulated this for me. You can visit her and read about
> her own shooting story at https://www.carrahquigley.com. Carrah will be
> speaking at West Hill via Zoom on Sunday, July 12. You can join us here at
> 10:30 EDT: https://zoom.us/j/370030792
> [5] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftnref5> I know. You think that is harsh.
> If you do and you are white, please pick up a copy of Layla Saad’s *Me
> and White Supremacy* and work through your blind spots and the horrors of
> realizing how deeply invested you are in the racist realities of our world.
> Saad’s book is short and provides 28 days of reflections, each with
> questions meant to prompt critical (in every sense of that word)
> self-reflection and understanding. If you can’t bear the thought of reading
> that, start with *White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to
> Talk About Racism* by Robin DiAngelo.
> [6] <#m_-4147499383472211127__ftnref6> Always learning, we are about to
> explore live music again using the setting corrections we found on Music
> Repo's YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoXM5wcpVNU
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=73f40c8c7c&e=db34daa597>
> .
> Question & Answer
>
> *Q: By A Reader*
>
> *As a scholar of Thomas Aquinas can you help me understand
> his teleological argument for his belief in the existence of God? *
>
> *A: By Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox*
>
>
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=9202d7cee7&e=db34daa597>Dear
> Reader,
>
> First, too much can be made of the term “proofs for the existence of God”
> by Thomas Aquinas.  As scholar Mary T. Clark advises, he “never claimed
> that the five ways for trying to prove God’s existence … were his
> ‘proofs.’”  They are found in his *summa theologica* right after he talks
> of how God’s existence is not self-evident to us.  He seems more to be
> addressing pagan philosophers in his remarks; and, in his eminently
> ecumenical way, offers guideposts on where to look into science for
> overlaps between believers and non believers around God talk.  (110f)*
>
> Your question alerts me to a point British biologist Rupert Sheldrake made
> to me a number of years ago.  “The future of biology is Aristotle… because
> the future of biology is teleology.”
>
> Here are Aquinas’s words on the subject of the teleological argument
> which, he says, “is taken from the ordered tendencies of nature.  A
> direction of actions to an end is detected in all bodies following natural
> laws even when they are without awareness, for their action scarcely ever
> varies and nearly always succeeds; this indicates that they do tend toward
> a goal, not merely succeeding by accident.  Anything, however, without
> awareness tends to a goal only under the guidance of someone who is aware
> and knows; the arrow, for instance, needs an archer.  Everything in nature,
> consequently, is guided in its goal by someone with knowledge, and this one
> we call ‘God.’” (124)
>
> Placing this within a postmodern scientific worldview, we might ask: Is
> evolution entirely random?  Each species and individual within a species
> seems to have its goal (or purpose or aim): To Live.  To survive.  This
> goal or aspiration we might call the divine imperative since “God is life,
> per se life.” (Aquinas)
>
> Aquinas’s argument takes on a fuller context within his and Aristotle’s
> teachings about the Four Causes which they name as Efficient; Material;
> Formal; Final (or goal or end).  What is the Final Cause?  It “signifies
> the aim, that for the sake of which something is… The question, why?’
> expects a cause.”  (120)
>
> Aquinas says, “Every agent acts for an end.  Otherwise, only by chance
> would definite results come from an agent’s action.”  (128)  And “the aim
> is called the cause of causes, since it causes the causality of all the
> causes.”  (172)  He offers the example of when we exercise to stay healthy,
> health is our final cause.
>
> I think it is useful also to consider the Four Causes in light of the Four
> Paths of Creation Spirituality.  My major work on Aquinas, *Sheer Joy:
> Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=c7d2adbdbf&e=db34daa597>,
> is centered around the Four Paths; and, in the course of my interviewing
> him, it becomes overwhelmingly clear that Aquinas is steeped in all of
> them--the *Via Positiva, Via Negativa, Via Creativa* and *Via
> Transformativa* (as is his disciple, Eckhart).
>
> Is it just coincidence that the Four Causes and Four Paths are developed
> so richly by both Aquinas and Eckhart?  Is the final cause akin to the *Via
> Transformativa*, namely, Compassion and Justice, Celebration and
> Healing?  Interestingly, both Aquinas and Eckhart call God *Compassion*
> and also *Justice* (“compassion means justice” Eckhart adds).  It would
> follow that where justice and compassion are, God is.
>
> Is that a teleological argument for God also?
>
> ~ Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox
>
> Read and share online here
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=18fbd9e826&e=db34daa597>
>
> *About the Author*
> Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut
> Catholique de Paris and has authored 35 books on spirituality and
> contemporary culture that have been translated into 74 languages. Fox has
> devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation
> Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship
> (called The Cosmic Mass). His work is inclusive of today’s science and
> world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected
> earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover
> Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are *Sins
> of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and
> Society*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=d7cc770b36&e=db34daa597>;
> *A Way To God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=77248b4e3d&e=db34daa597>;
> *Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=bd1f687fdf&e=db34daa597>;
> *Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=8a8d9e250f&e=db34daa597>
> ;* Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=b909e42644&e=db34daa597>;
> *Stations of the Cosmic Christ;*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=80530b8316&e=db34daa597> *Order
> of the Sacred Earth*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=954e083446&e=db34daa597>;
> and *Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Name for
> God...Including the Unnameable God*
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=b58533e845&e=db34daa597>.
> To encourage a passionate response to the news of climate change advancing
> so rapidly, Fox started Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=11a794b272&e=db34daa597>
> - See Welcome from Matthew Fox
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=bf0bce38fc&e=db34daa597>
> *.*
>
>
> ***Citations are from Mary T. Clark, ed., *An Aquinas Reader: Selections
> from the Writings of Thomas Aquinas *(NY: Doubleday Image, 1972)*.  *Pages
> within the text refer to that book and all citations are from Aquinas
> except the first.
> Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited
> The Study of Life, Part 4:
> Tracing the Story of Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Islands
> Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong
> August 29, 2020
>
> Still pursuing the meaning of life as the necessary prerequisite for
> raising the question of what might lie beyond life, we left the Amazon
> Rainforest and made our way by air from Quito through Ecuador’s major port
> and biggest city, Guayaquil, to the sole airport in the Galapagos on the
> island named Baltra. This is the principal gateway into this mysterious
> area, which has been called everything from “the closest thing to hell on
> earth” to the “Garden of Eden.”
>
> These islands are a series of land masses, created by volcanic eruptions
> in what is called the “hot spot” of the Galapagos. The oldest island in
> this chain is 6.5 million years old, while the youngest is no more than
> 300,000 years old. These islands drift to the east as if on a slow-moving
> conveyor belt at the rate of about three inches a year. Given their ages,
> that can constitute significant distances. The oldest island, for example,
> has drifted 378 miles from its place of birth, while the youngest has moved
> only 21 miles. So the further east-southeast the islands of this chain are,
> the older they are. The effects of their volcanic birth are everywhere,
> with black ash and rolls of spewing lava, now hardened but quite visible.
> Each island’s vegetation reflects its age. The earliest form of vegetation
> is normally the volcanic cactus. That is followed by more sustainable
> vegetation as hundreds of thousands of years pass. The animate life native
> here is limited to sea birds and various reptiles, the best known of which
> are the giant tortoises and the iguanas. Mammals, which are by nature late
> developing, are indigenous to this land only in the form of sea lions and
> bats. The Galapagos’ sea lions have been traced to the sea lions of
> California, while bats have amazingly long navigational abilities and can
> come from almost anywhere. The scarcity of fresh water makes other forms of
> mammalian life all but impossible.
>
> These islands were first discovered by fishermen in the 16th century and
> were later used by pirates, lying in wait for galleons loaded with Inca
> gold and other prizes of the new world. The pirates introduced other forms
> of life here, such as goats, so that they would have a fresh supply of meat
> waiting for them on future voyages. Remarkably, these goats proved to be
> sufficiently hardy to survive on the slight moisture they found in plants
> and the occasional rainfall, while at the same time they demonstrated one
> of Darwin’s principles by adapting their bodies to the ability to drink
> brackish salt water that was available in great supply.
>
> A stop here in 1835 by the HMS Beagle, captained by Robert Fitzroy and
> having on board serving as the “naturalist” a young man in his mid-twenties
> named Charles Robert Darwin, brought change not just to the Galapagos, but
> to the face of human history. The voyage of the Beagle lasted five years,
> from 1831 to1836, but the only time spent in the Galapagos was between
> September 5 and October 7 of the year 1835. Of that five-week time span
> Darwin actually spent only 19 days on land.
>
> In that limited time, however, Darwin visited every island on which he
> could get ashore and immediately became aware of their relatively recent
> origins and even of the gaps of time between each island, small by
> geological standards but significant in terms of the development of life
> forms. Everywhere he went, he collected specimens for his study. The
> differences among the same species of the finch provided Darwin with what
> was to be an invaluable clue that would underlie his theory, namely that
> various forms of life were not immutable, but were in fact always changing.
> Indeed these changes could be so total, he found, that given the necessary
> time, new species could actually develop. Just as the various islands of
> the Galapagos chain floated eastward over time, so the life forms on each
> island were distinct as they adapted to the different environment and
> resources available on each island. Darwin thus broke two “established”
> conclusions present in the religious world view of his day. One was that
> the age of this planet Earth was far older than the 6000 or so years
> postulated by Irish Bishop James Ussher who, from his biblical sources
> dated the birth of this Earth in 4004 BCE. The second was the idea firmly
> stated in the creation story that God created each species “after its kind”
> and that there was therefore no changing or evolving after the creation.
>
> Darwin himself did not yet embrace the real dimensions of time in the
> Earth’s history, which we now count at 4.7 billion years. If he had, his
> work would have been much easier. Nor did he embrace the possibility, now
> well established, that our separated continents were once a contiguous land
> mass. This would have explained, for example, both the similarities and the
> differences in vegetative and animal life in Africa and South America. Yet
> even without these two dimensions of knowledge that were to come much
> later, his thesis was remarkably accurate.
>
> What, he wondered, brought about the observable changes in the various
> forms of life from island to island? It was in answer to that question that
> Darwin’s real contribution came. His answer to that question would also
> prove to be most controversial in religious circles, for it shattered the
> primary concept by which human beings conceived of God. For Darwin,
> biological change was accomplished by natural selection. There was no place
> in his thinking for a divine intelligence directing the process.
>
> The clue for this truth for Darwin was seen in the wide variety in the
> shape of the beaks of the finches from island to island. Since the food
> supply was different on each island because of its age, the finches that
> survived in each location had to have beaks that were well adapted to the
> local food supply. Over multiple generations the finches with the fittest
> beaks for the environment in which they lived were naturally selected for
> survival.
>
> That same principle is still observable today among the sea lions of the
> Galapagos. The dominant male of the sea lion colony patrols a limited
> stretch of the beach, preventing other male challengers to his kingdom, and
> thus he impregnates all of the female sea lions in that area. Regularly,
> the dominant sea lion fights off male challengers to maintain his position
> until finally a stronger one than he prevails and takes over. In this way,
> the strongest characteristics are continually bred into the offspring.
> Natural selection works to foster survival adaptations.
>
> When Darwin left the Galapagos after this short visit, he discovered that
> his record-keeping was quite happenstance. Only later, by use of the notes
> kept by Captain Fitzroy, was Darwin able to organize each of his specimens
> by the island and the date on which it was obtained. Only then, when the
> differences on each island became visible to him, did the theory of
> evolution begin to take shape, since it alone made sense of the now
> apparent data. Natural selection emerged as the key to the theory.
>
> Darwin himself was shocked by his own conclusions. It was such a
> revolutionary way to view life from anything supposed before. He sat on
> this knowledge, seeking to be certain, while constantly testing his thesis
> from 1836 to 1859. When he finally published his findings, he was quite
> aware of the challenge his ideas would bring. This had been made clear to
> him from two primary sources. First, there was the vigorous opposition to
> his conclusions on biblical grounds that came from Captain Robert Fitzroy.
> Second, his wife, a devoted member of the Anglican Church, made him aware
> of her fears. With the negativity destined to be so high, he wanted to be
> sure that he stood on solid ground before he put his conclusions into
> irrevocable print. Twenty-four years after the voyage of the Beagle and
> under pressure from another scientist named Alfred Russel Wallace, who was
> working in the same area and who might have become the one with whom
> evolution was identified if he had published first, Darwin finally released
> his book to the public in 1859 just 150 years ago and in the 50th year of
> his life. When this book hit the streets of London, it sold out on the
> first day of publication. The world would never be the same.
>
> Within a few weeks Darwin’s theory was the subject of the historic debate
> between Thomas Huxley, representing Darwin, and the voice of the threatened
> religious establishment, Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford. This
> debate took place before the members of the British scientific world at the
> Museum of Natural History in Oxford. Though Wilberforce was, by popular
> acclaim, the winner of this debate, history has not treated the good bishop
> kindly. He is viewed today more as a buffoon than as a serious critic. When
> Wilberforce tried ridicule by asking Huxley whether it was on his mother’s
> or father’s side that he had descended from apes, he had stooped to the
> oldest trick that losers regularly employ in a debate: “If you can’t deal
> with the message, attack the messenger.” The chief result of this debate
> was that press coverage guaranteed that Darwin’s ideas quickly entered the
> public’s awareness and began that inevitable process of seeping into
> universal consciousness. Today the discovery of DNA and the subsequent
> recognition of the interrelatedness of all living things has fairly well
> clinched the argument in Darwin’s favor. There is universal acceptance of
> his theory in intellectual circles. Medical science is organized on the
> basis of evolution. The study of genetics assumes it. The fields of
> biochemistry and biophysics have it as their prerequisite. Evolution has in
> fact won the day. Religious opposition is now little more than a minor
> skirmish fought on the battlefield along the major retreat routes of
> religious thinking. Darwin had signaled the fact that religion would have
> to change dramatically, perhaps even die, before human beings would
> understand the very meaning of life. This last possibility finally became
> clear to me in the writing of my new book. I discovered that I had to walk
> beyond religion in order to discover the meaning of life here or the hope
> of life hereafter. Before I could find a doorway into an understanding of
> life after death, I had to find my way into what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called
> “Religionless Christianity.” I will seek to reveal the process this book
> took in next week’s column.
>
> ~  John Shelby Spong
> Announcements
>
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=e032289c6e&e=db34daa597>*The
> Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington*
>  The Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington is going
> digital! We will gather from all 50 U.S. states and territories, and from
> across the world on June 20th. This 2-hour program will be broadcast on
> Saturday, June 20th at 10:00am EST and 6:00pm EST and again on Sunday, June
> 21st at 6:00pm EST.  READ ON ...
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=c51cb1e2e8&e=db34daa597>
> [image: Twitter]
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=cd9a28a3ed&e=db34daa597>
> [image: Facebook]
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=cdafe3cf40&e=db34daa597>
> [image: Website]
> <https://ProgressiveChristianity.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=a77a08c11d&e=db34daa597>
> _______________________________________________
> OE mailing list
> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net
> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/20200618/07eedf9d/attachment-0001.html>