Dear Members and Friends,
It was our first family holiday, an August vacation back in the early 60’s, when my dad took us all up to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. These were the days when the New York Times would publish the schedule delineating when the first American communications satellite, Echo 1, would traverse the Western sky.
One evening, initially intending to see the slow moving 30-meter Mylar celestial voyager, we accidentally happened outside when a much reported UFO shot across the horizon. Yet overall, I recall being even more stunned by the inky black firmament absolutely bubbling over with countless points of shimmering bright light. At first I thought that New England just had more stars than New Jersey! Later I came to understand that one cannot nearly appreciate the beautiful and omnipresent Cosmic radiance from the vantage point of a sprawling suburban glow. It was as if we had stumbled upon a new world, and for me, not only was it love at first sight, it was faith at first glimpse.
Now even though this phenomenal panorama profoundly touched my youthful soul, I don’t recollect seeing any Divine signature imprinted among the stars. Neither had my father forced a spiritual interpretation on the astral expanse. Perhaps I’d had a fresh encounter with God in that sky because He was already residing quietly in my heart.
Like re-runs of the old “Lucy Show”, currently there is yet another move afoot to inject church doctrine into high school science by balancing the theory of evolution with the hypothesis of what is called “Intelligent Design”. Once again it appears that some Christians are not content that God should be perceived through faith. In effect, it seems as though we are attempting to take the inexpressibly magnificent canvas of life and aggressively emplace the Creator’s autograph on every page and picture.
For the sake of clarity, as an aside, I would also submit the view that any individual who matriculates public middle or secondary school without a decent course in comparative religion is woefully undereducated. That child has been sadly deprived of systematically encountering a core reality present in all human history, ancient and modern. Yet, this is a far cry from thinking that someone certified to impart the formulae of flora and fauna should now begin speaking of God!
Really, I am not sure whether making Our Lord the subject of the laboratory bespeaks a worse state of affairs for our science or our belief. This proposal, which claims to honor the Almighty, may actually turn out to be a tremendous insult – not unlike spray-painting the craters of the Moon, or the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, with the words “God was here”. One wonders, if the Lord was content to leave the Creation completely “uninscribed”, why then aren’t we?
A mystery first comprehended long, long ago, revealed that the skies do indeed declare a deliberate and Divine glory. This Intelligent Design has always been perceived in the heart and soul by faith. Therefore, it need not, and should not be printed in science texts by law.
From Reverend William J. Keane,
Senior Minister of First Baptist Church of Branford
|
