Does The Bible Conflict With Science? -- By: William A. Dembski

Journal: Christian Apologetics Journal
Volume: CAJ 10:2 (Fall 2012)
Article: Does The Bible Conflict With Science?
Author: William A. Dembski


Does The Bible Conflict With Science?1

William A. Dembski

Essays on whether the Bible and science conflict typically come in four varieties: (1) Yes, of course they conflict, and so much the worse for the Bible because science shows that the Good Book is riddled with errors and misconceptions. This is the line taken by atheists such as Richard Dawkins.2 (2) Yes, of course they conflict, and so much the worse for science, which, far from being unbiased and self–correcting, is an ideologically driven enterprise committed to a materialistic worldview. True science, properly so called, needs to take its cues from the Bible. This line is taken by many young–earth creationists.3 (3)

No, they don’t conflict because, by their very nature, they can’t conflict—the Bible and science address fundamentally different aspects of reality. Rather than compete, they complement each other. Stephen Jay Gould’s NOMA (Non–Overlapping Magisteria) and much of the Templeton–funded science–religion dialogue take this line.4 (4) Not only don’t the Bible and science conflict, but, as good fortune would have it, they overlap and speak in unison where they do. This is the line of concordists or harmonizers.5

Given a forced choice among these positions, I would go with the last. This is where my sympathies lie. To put my cards on the table, I am a biblical inerrantist. Thus I hold that the Bible does not err in all matters to which it speaks, not only in faith and morals but also in history and science. Though rejecting a dictationist view of the Bible’s formation, I hold to its plenary verbal inspiration—the Bible, down to its very words and letters, is, in my view, inspired. On some of the most contentious areas in the dialogue between science and theology, I take a thoroughly traditional line: Adam and Eve, the progenitors of the human race, were exactly two people specially created by God apart from primate ancestors. More generally, common descent, the claim that all organisms trace their lineage to a common ancestor is, in my view, ill–supported by the scientific evidence. I regard the power of evolutionary processes as wildly exaggerated by the scientific mainstream. In particular, natural selection has little creative potential and can at best explain small–scale evolutionary changes.6

Given such views, I could write this essay ...

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