The Los Alamos Faith and Science Forum summer series begins June 6 with the topic, ‘Why discuss Evolution?’ Courtesy/LAF&SF

LAF&SF News:

Purposeful Evolution?

One of the main stumbling blocks about evolution, for people of faith, is that it is portrayed as totally random and without direction. They ask—where in this is the Creator’s purpose?

Actually, however, recent research in evolutionary biology increasingly allows for the possibility that evolution is not always so random. Rather, it may respond to constraints that seem to direct it, perhaps in “purposeful” directions”. The main goal in this summer’s Los Alamos Faith and Science Forum lectures is to bring our community up to date on the latest views about evolution: “Purposeful Evolution”.

To understand these arguments, we need to know both the history of evolutionary thinking and some of the details of how living organisms work. The summer lectures are designed to share this information in terms as non-technical as possible – “evolution made understandable”.

The forum’s lectures start with what Darwin had to work with, and advance through recognizing that random mutation and natural selection aren’t necessarily sufficient to explain all the ways that the myriad life forms have arisen over the millennia. The implications for people of faith are significant, for this new understanding shows a remarkably subtle creator, who gives freedom as well as direction to all of creation to develop in marvelous ways, insuring the Creator’s purposes.

The summer series begins Wednesday, June 6 when Dan Winske addresses “Why discuss Evolution?” The meetings will follow the usual format: light supper at 6 p.m., talk at 6:30 p.m., followed by questions for the speaker and then table discussions. These talks will be in the Fellowship Hall of the Unitarian Church at 1738 N. Sage Loop in Los Alamos.

The keynote presentations at Fuller Lodge will feature Dennis Venema, professor of biology at Trinity Western University. Venema is the co-author of “Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture after Genetic Science”.

Keynote Presentation Schedule:

• Tuesday, July 10, Dennis Venema will speak on “Adam the Genome and Evolution”; and
• Wednesday, July 11, Dennis Venema will address “Evolution, Intelligent Design and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis”.

The Los Alamos Faith and Science Forum (LAF&SF) is an incorporated 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization seeking to understand faith and science and how they fit together. For more information, visit www.lafsf.org.