Creation according to Francisco Ayala. Image courtesy of José-Manuel Benito Álvarez, Wikipedia.
Joel Kontinen
The Templeton Foundation uses a variety of avenues to promote dialogue between science and religion. Or at least it says it does. Established by the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, it annually awards a 1.6 million dollar prize to a “living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works”.
This year’s laureate Francisco Ayala is a biology professor known for his outspoken opposition to creationism and intelligent design. He regards God’s direct involvement in creation as blasphemy.
This might be Ayala’s way of explaining why bad things happen in the world. A former Dominician priest, he chooses to believe in unguided Darwinian evolution instead of anything that suggests God would have planned life as we know it.
There is a better way of explaining why there are imperfections in living beings. The book of Genesis describes the creation of a very good world. However, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s explicit commandment. What we see in living beings are the consequences of this fall.
A truly biblical worldview explains reality much better than Ayala’s version.
Sources:
Bhattacharjee, Yudhijit. 2010. Latest Prize Bolsters Templeton's Shift to Mainstream. Science 327: 5973, 1565.
2010 Templeton Prize Laureate Francisco J. Ayala. http://www.templetonprize.org/ (25 March).
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