Pat Gillespie, "Scientist: Evolution and God can co-exist" (2005)

Scientist: Evolution and God can co-exist
> <b><span class="deck">'Trying to explain the natural world'<span>
> <b><span class="byline">BY PAT GILLESPIE<span>
> <b><span class="creditline">Staff Writer<span>
> <div>

Evolutionist Dr. Eugenie Scott says evolution and God can coexist, despite many people's perceptions.

Scott spoke to a standing-room only crowd Thursday at Columbus State University's Davidson Student Center auditorium about evolution and the theories against it. Scott is the executive director of the National Center for Science Education Inc. in Oakland, Calif., and nationally recognized as a proponent of church/state separation.

"There really is an awful lot of confusion out there about what evolution really is," she said. "It's only controversial at the K-12 level."

Scott spent a little more than an hour explaining that evolution is the belief that all things came from a common ancestor, some of the theories against it and the history of those groups. She said several times that evolution scientists aren't in the business of discounting God, but rather proving how things were created.

"All we're trying to do is explain the natural world," Scott said.

She said that if every time scientists couldn't figure something out they attributed it to God, nothing would be solved. "That means you stop looking."

Scott discussed the theories from Young Earth Creationists and Intelligent Design Creationists, which she said are working to discredit evolution. She told the crowd about how some theories are inaccurate and some of the ways those groups are trying to discredit evolution are unethical.

But, she said, evolution and the belief in God can coexist.

"Science cannot tell you who done it, but how it happened," she said. "If there is an omnipotent being, anything this being does is compatible with anything we observe."

Bethany Wise, a political science junior in David Wisdo's Critical Thinking course, said she thought Scott's talk was important to help people understand.

"It's an issue that a lot of people don't want to confront," she said. "You just have to be open-minded."

Political science junior Brooke Campbell, who is also in the class, said she was never taught evolution growing up, so Scott's discussion was helpful.

"I got more out of it since it wasn't offensive," she said.

Scott said she doesn't support teaching both evolution and creationism in schools because, "fairness is not a part of science."

"The idea that evolutionism should be balanced with something else is something that is very highly held in America," she said.

Evolution is a topic of controversy nationwide. The most recent evidence was in Cobb County, Ga., when school officials had stickers placed in biology textbooks that said "evolution is a theory, not a fact." In January, a federal judge ordered the stickers removed. Scott said the case is in an appeals court.