Dear Sir,

It is true that human sin is generally behind our rigid adherence to our own
particular rigidly held convictions. Your document is correct in pointing
out God neither wishes us to live in ignorance nor to deny reasonable
conclusions about the world in which we live. It is true that science and
religion can easily coexist side by side without the one rejecting the
other. However, it is also true that science and religion are not completely
unrelated matters. Theology is the queen of the sciences and a Christian's
faith is foundational for every aspect of human life.

Unfortunately, we presently live in a society which is in the midst of a
great cultural war. The pressures to reject the Christian faith are intense.
We may call such pressures political correctness or multiculturalism, but in
the end they are nothing but a totalitarian-like effort of coercive power,
which seeks to persecute anybody who truly takes the Christian faith
seriously. These pressures are typically covert, and on the surface seem to
be well-intended and quite benign--much like how the real dangers of
National Socialism appeared to Germany and the rest of the world during the
1920s and early 1930s. Sadly, we have schools teaching the youth of our
country under the assumption that education can actually take place in an
atmosphere devoid of values and faith. Many treat religion as a complete
non-essential for human life. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I surely cannot align myself with those who treat the Bible only as a book
of laws or as a scientific textbook. However, it would also be impossible
for me to sign a document which appears to affirm the premise that true
science can long exist without the conviction that God is indeed the creator
of the heavens, the earth and all that exists. No matter the argument,
including arguments regarding the human construct we call the theory of
evolution, the only real truth is the reality of God and His salvific love
for us.

To imply that any scientific theory--even the theory of evolution--is a
static truth is about as silly as arguing that the sun is the center of the
universe or that the earth is flat. To do so is just as sinful as using the
Bible as scientific textbook. It is likely much too soon for clergy to sign
petitions seeking to affirm the status quo in our public schools as some
sort of ideal. There is nothing ideal about a situation whereby school
students are preparing for the mid-December "Winter Concert" and the closest
choral melody they can actually get to the real meaning of the holiday is
something along the line of "Jingle Bells." Josef Stalin would surely enjoy
the present state of American public education.

There is clearly a need for more reflection on this matter. Unfortunately,
petitions attempt to cut short the dialogue when in fact the real need is to
have more and more dialogue about these matters. Throwing around numbers
like 10,800 clergy is intimidating. Even if a document had 10,800,000
signatures that would not make it a referendum on the truth.

Consequently, although I am neither a Fundamentalist nor a biblical
literalist, I find it impossible to sign your petition. I am simply a
confessional Lutheran who believes in God as Creator, Redeemer and
Sanctifier. And my prayer is that there will be more (and not less)
meaningful debate on matters of religion and science.

The Rev. Christopher Hershman, MA, STM, DMin
Licensed Psychologist, LMFT, LPC, CAS, CGP, CFLE
The Marriage & Family Institute
923 North Brookside Road, PO Box 3303
Allentown, PA 18106-0303

610-366-7880 (Fax) 610-366-1960

verbum dei manet in aeternum

-----Original Message-----
From: Zimmerman, Michael [mailto:mzimmerm@...]
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 15:52
To: 'vdmiae@...'
Subject: The Clergy Letter Project

Dear Reverend Hershman,



I am writing on behalf of The Clergy Letter Project, a national
group of more than 10,800 members of the Christian clergy who believe that
Christianity and modern science are not at odds with one another. I am the
founder and director of the organization as well as a professor of biology
and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University.
I am writing to ask you to join with more than 10,800 of your colleagues and
add your signature to The Clergy Letter. (I have reproduced The Clergy
Letter below.)



The main goals of The Clergy Letter Project are to demonstrate
that religion and science can comfortably coexist and to elevate the
national discussion about this important topic. With so many Christian
clergy having signed The Letter we have been able to generate a fair amount
of national attention. Additional signatures will help bolster our case and
demonstrate to the American people that faith and science, while different,
are not enemies.



If you would like to add your signature, all you need to do is
reply to this e-mail telling me how you would like your signature block to
appear. If you go to www.evolutionsunday.org
<http://www.evolutionsunday.org/> you will be able to look at the 10,800
signatures, and much of the media coverage we have received. Additionally,
members of The Clergy Letter Project have posted more than 70 sermons they
have delivered on this topic.



I assure you that other than listing your name on The Clergy
Letter, I will never share you name and contact information with anyone
else.



Thanks so very much for taking the time to read through this
e-mail. Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best.




Michael



Visit The Clergy Letter Project on the Web at www.evolutionsunday.org
<http://www.evolutionsunday.org/>





THE CLERGY LETTER

Within the community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and
disagreement, including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While
virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be
authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do
not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the
beloved stories found in the Bible - the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and
the ark - convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper
relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable
of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth
is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey
scientific information but to transform hearts.

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe
that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science
may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a
foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny
and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this
truth or to treat it as "one theory among others" is to deliberately embrace
scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe
that among God's good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and
that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our
Creator. To argue that God's loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes
the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to
limit God, an act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the
integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory
of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science
remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but
complementary, forms of truth.


10,825 signatures collected to date

Signatures are current as of 20 August 2007

Please note that institutions are named for identification purposes only

If you would like to sign this letter, please send an e-mail to
mz@... listing:

Your Title and Name
Affiliation/Church (optional)
City and State

<http://www.butler.edu/clergyproject/religion_science_collaboration.htm#top#
top>





Michael Zimmerman

Office of the Dean

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Butler University

Indianapolis, IN 46208



Tel: 317.940.9224

Fax: 317.940.8815

mz@...