Academia & Ecclesia

Although the Assemblies of God is commonly associated with evangelical fundamentalism, it is actually a denomination that is coming-of-age. Just look at the revised version of its position on the doctrine of creation: http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_downloads/PP_The_Doctrine_of_Creation.pdf Unlike its former position on the issue, it does not reject (at least explicitly) the theory of evolution. In addition, as a denomination, it does not associate itself with any political party, considering that, as an organization, it is apolitical and, for the sake of unity, it considers the attempt to associate the church with any political party as deeply divisive. http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/topics/contempissues_09_government.cfm http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/topics/contempissues_10_politics.cfm About a year ago, I was accused of being a wolf in sheep's clothing by an Assemblies of God pastor for supporting the same positions.

While I was driving yesterday, I ended up listening to a Christian radio station. The hosts with a special guest pointed out how creationist students are persecuted by evolutionist professors. The special guest who was a former student in a secular university exaggeratedly related a story about a biology professor who would not write a recommendation letter for a student who did not affirm the truth of the theory of evolution. While I was listening, it dawned on me what exactly is the problem with the perspectives of fundamentalist creationists and dogmatic evolutionists. It appears to me that both of them are confused about the nature of a theory (especially a scientific one). I usually hear creationists claiming that the theory of evolution is a mere philosophical theory. So, they claim that it is not intellectually superior to creationism. On the other hand, evolutionists usually claim that the theory of evolution is actually a scientific theory, while creationism is a mere religiou