Religion Scholar RESIGNS After Endorsing Evolution

A prominent Old Testament scholar has resigned from a professorial position after he was recorded on video endorsing evolution.

Until several days ago, Bruce K. Waltke was a professor at Florida's Reformed Theological Seminary. But after the school found out about his video blog (the video has since been removed at Waltke's request) on the website of the BioLogos Foundation, which promotes harmony between science and theology, he lost his job.

According to several people who saw the video, Waltke said that Christianity's continued denial of evolution will "make [them] a cult."

Waltke's discharge speaks to just how profound the chasm is between scientists and theologians.
Inside Higher Ed reports:

But the fact that his seminary did dismiss him is viewed as a sign of just how difficult it may be for scholars at some institutions to raise issues involving science that are not 100% consistent with a literal interpretation of the Bible.

"I think it's a really sad situation, even if this isn't the first time a scholar at a religious institution has been released for unorthodox views," said Michael Murray, vice president for philosophy and theology at the John Templeton Foundation, which supports BioLogos and other efforts to bridge science and religion.

Waltke could not be reached for comment on the situation. He did issue a joint statement with the head of BioLogos in which he stood behind the substance of what he said in the video, but also said that he wished he could have provided more context, particularly his view that it is possible to believe in evolution and also believe in "in the inerrancy of Scripture."

The Reformed Theological Seminary's Interim President, Michael Milton, told Inside Higher Ed that the situation caused the school "heartache," but Waltke ultimately disobeyed the institution's mandate on evolution: No Darwinian talk allowed.

According to Christianity Today, Waltke has accepted a new position at Knox Theological Seminary.

What do you think? Should Waltke have been forced to walk?

Comments

[Athena123]

06:13 PM on 06/04/2010

Christianity has been proven wrong, over, and over, and over again, since Gallileo and ever since. It has been a noose around the neck of enlightenment and progress since the beginning. And yet, people still buy into it. Why?

"The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive...but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetic in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve. And every step in astronomy and geology ever taken has been opposed by bigotry and superstition. The Greeks surpassed us in artistic culture and in architecture five hundred years before Christian religion was born."
-~Mark Twain, a Biography

Since that time, we can add other things to the list. Including women having the right to vote and having meaningful careers (this was a sin because then women might have "authority" over men"). The list is endless. Evolution and gay rights are the latest - and of course, truth will win out and christianity will lose.

[GaryCharles]

12:37 PM on 05/04/2010

Wow, I missed this one huh... well I fanned Bruce K. Waltke anyway :)

[rf dude]

01:43 AM on 04/18/2010

'
On becoming a cult - I think it doesn't take a denial of evolution for this to happen...

[AnIdea4u]

03:29 PM on 04/17/2010

This is happenning in seminars all over the world specially if the bishop is Opus Dei. Last October Marianist father Arens was banned to teach by Cardinal Cipriani in Peru, and he is a very reputed and published priest. What was commented in the catholic communtity is that is was done out of envy for this liberal priest success and the fact that the Marianist seminar had ten times as many students then the Opus Dei did.
I am starting to be a believer of prophecy, the one's coming from mother Mary, specially the Akita prophecy that states that the evil will enter the church and then it will be "priest aganist priest and bishop against bishop". Same message as the third of Fatima, which pope John Paul said it was fullfilled when he was shot down. I am doubting the infabillity of the pope.
In fact there is little of the catholic creed that I still believe in. Guess I am not catholic any more. Opus Dei will probably take over the catholic church, but it will be a small cult by then.

[ChristopherAtom]

09:46 AM on 04/18/2010

Um, about your fledgling belief in prophecy: Religion is always fighting with itself, creating divisions in the "church". Why do you think there are so many different forms of Christianity or Islam. You couldn't make a safer bet then saying the church will divide.
Lastly, the ridiculous amounts of different faiths should point to the failed social experiment of religion. If they are all right, then who is wrong? Let it fade in history like the stone age.

[dread locks]

02:51 PM on 04/17/2010

He left because he was embarassed they found out that he was stupid (for believe in evoluition).

[ChristopherAtom]

09:48 AM on 04/18/2010

Stupid like a fox!

[OkieIntellectual]

09:27 PM on 04/16/2010

What's up with the misleading headline? The guy didn't resign, he was fired.

[zooperman]

08:40 AM on 04/15/2010

Actually, I suspect all this has to do with donor money - more accurately with threats to withhold donor money.

[cmalloy]

09:18 AM on 04/15/2010

Seems plausible.

[C Bevens]

10:21 AM on 04/15/2010

that was my first thought too.
CB

[ChristopherAtom]

09:49 AM on 04/18/2010

Without money, religion would not exist.

[zooperman]

08:38 AM on 04/15/2010

I think if the leaders of an educational institution want to assist in keeping their students ill-informed and ignorant, they have the right to do that. Eventually the institution will become irrelevant.

[JTS313]

10:10 AM on 04/15/2010

Eventually?

[holyheretic]

09:05 PM on 04/15/2010

My “New Atheists series”

NIKOLA TESLA, WHO WOULD BECOME FAMOUS BY INVENTING SYSTEMS FOR GENERATING AND TRANSMITTING ELECTRICITY, WAS THE GRANDSON, SON, AND NEPHEW OF SERBIAN ORTHODOX PRIESTS.

HOWEVER HE REBELLED AGAINST HIS PARENTS BY REJECTING A CLERICAL VOCATION; DENIED THE EXISTENCE OF THE SPIRIT; EXPLAINED ALL PHENOMENA IN TERMS OF MATTER AND ENERGY; CLAIMED THAT THE HUMAN BEING WAS A PERFECT AUTOMATON, A "MEAT MACHINE," RESPONDING TO EXTERNAL STIMULI AND POSSESSING NO FREE WILL; AND PIONEERED THE SCIENCE OF ROBOTICS.

http://books.google.com/books?id=JYylHhmoNZ4C&pg=PA17&dq=Nikola+Tesla+denied+the+existence&ei=YrPHS8idOoOeMoP9sIEP&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Nikola%20Tesla%20denied%20the%20existence&f=false

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity, and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.

MY BLASPHEMOUS BLOGS
Bible Belts
http://biblebelts.blogspot.com/

Bewildering Bible Legends
http://bewilderingbiblelegends.blogspot.com/

In the East God Won - The high cost of organized ignorance.
http://whengodwins.blogspot.com/

Holy Cows and Calves - Sacred superstitions, aka religions.
http://holycowsandcalves.blogspot.com/

ניפוץ אלילים - ביעור הבערות
Holy Heretics - Jesus, Maimonides, Spinoza, the Founding Fathers, Herzl, Einstein.
http://holyheretics.com/

[Joram Jante]

06:47 AM on 04/15/2010

Alright lets clear are thoughts and open our minds just for a second. Let’s say 2012 will usher in a year of enlightenment, and knowledge. Not only that though a couple of years later the world markets crash, famines break out, earthquakes, volcanic activity all in the global level, disease, and war.
What would be your personal way of dealing with this?
I'm not saying any of this is going on right now. ;)

[NaturesGodsSeeker]

07:32 AM on 04/15/2010

1) Move to the coastline (fishing will become very popular).
2) Plant seeds.
3) Try to survive. (see The Road).
4) Hide all the Bibles and Qurans (see Crusades).

[NaturesGodsSeeker]

07:36 AM on 04/15/2010

5) Hide all copies of Atlas Shrugged.
6) Guard against the resurrection of Conservative Radio and FAUX News.

[Joram Jante]

08:18 AM on 04/15/2010

Yea them conservatives are goofy in their believe to bully everyone in to doing what they think is appropriate. But bullies aren’t bullet proof. Especially when they intimidate the innocent.

[ChristopherAtom]

10:32 AM on 04/18/2010

Fanned for answers instead of whimpering fears.

[holyheretic]

11:24 PM on 04/14/2010

My “New Atheists series”:

CIVILIZATION WILL NOT ATTAIN PERFECTION UNTIL THE LAST STONE, FROM THE LAST CHURCH, FELLS ON THE LAST PRIEST.

Émile François Zola (French pronunciation: [emil zɔˈla]) (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was an influential French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism, an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus.

MY BLASPHEMOUS BLOGS
Bible Belts
http://biblebelts.blogspot.com/

Bewildering Bible Legends
http://bewilderingbiblelegends.blogspot.com/

In the East God Won - The high cost of organized ignorance.
http://whengodwins.blogspot.com/

Holy Cows and Calves - Sacred superstitions, aka religions.
http://holycowsandcalves.blogspot.com/

Holy Heretics - Jesus, Maimonides, Spinoza, the Founding Fathers, Herzl, Einstein.
http://holyheretics.com/

Holocaust Haggadah
Delusion dealers blame the victims.
http://holocausthagaddah.blogspot.com/

[Danlantic]

12:38 AM on 04/15/2010

Thank you. I'll bookmark them.

[holyheretic]

04:23 AM on 04/15/2010

Dear Danlantic

I am delighted you liked the quotes I posted and that you bookmarked them.

[bsmithslo]

02:09 AM on 04/15/2010

My God man. You are not well. Take some time. Walk on the beach. Meet somebody and have sex. Plant a garden. Take a hit. You desperately need to get a life.

Posting the same things over and over is spamin'. Please stop.

[holyheretic]

04:03 AM on 04/15/2010

By the way, dear bsmithslo

If you would like to bookmark the link for the quote I sent you by Puerre Charron, here it is.

Enjoy!

http://books.google.com/books?id=b73aaaaamaaj&q=%e2%80%9call+religions+have+this+in+common,+that+they+are+an+outrage+to+common+sense+for+they+are+pieced+together+out+of+a+variety+of+elements,+some+of+which+seem+so+unworthy,+sordid+and+at+odds+with+man%e2%80%99s+reason,+that+any+strong+and+vigorous+intelligence+laughs+at+them%e2%80%9d&dq=%e2%80%9call+religions+have+this+in+common,+that+they+are+an+outrage+to+common+sense+for+they+are+pieced+together+out+of+a+variety+of+elements,+some+of+which+seem+so+unworthy,+sordid+and+at+odds+with+man%e2%80%99s+reason,+that+any+strong+and+vigorous+intelligence+laughs+at+them%e2%80%9d&ei=wqdgs4k2g6qekasypkwxbw&cd=1

[holyheretic]

04:28 AM on 04/15/2010

Dear bsmithslo

I am always delighted to hear from you. I must tell you that for me it has always been extremely hard to satisfy “Full of Faith” people like you. Perhaps if I serve you with wisdom from a theologian, you will finally be happy.

My “New Atheists series”

“ALL RELIGIONS HAVE THIS IN COMMON, THAT THEY ARE AN OUTRAGE TO COMMON SENSE FOR THEY ARE PIECED TOGETHER OUT OF A VARIETY OF ELEMENTS, SOME OF WHICH SEEM SO UNWORTHY, SORDID AND AT ODDS WITH MAN’S REASON, THAT ANY STRONG AND VIGOROUS INTELLIGENCE LAUGHS AT THEM”

Puerre Charron – Catholic Theologian 1541-1603 on wisdom

http://books.google.com/books?id=b73aaaaamaaj&q=%e2%80%9call+religions+have+this+in+common,+that+they+are+an+outrage+to+common+sense+for+they+are+pieced+together+out+of+a+variety+of+elements,+some+of+which+seem+so+unworthy,+sordid+and+at+odds+with+man%e2%80%99s+reason,+that+any+strong+and+vigorous+intelligence+laughs+at+them%e2%80%9d&dq=%e2%80%9call+religions+have+this+in+common,+that+they+are+an+outrage+to+common+sense+for+they+are+pieced+together+out+of+a+variety+of+elements,+some+of+which+seem+so+unworthy,+sordid+and+at+odds+with+man%e2%80%99s+reason,+that+any+strong+and+vigorous+intelligence+laughs+at+them%e2%80%9d&ei=wqdgs4k2g6qekasypkwxbw&cd=1

[InTheSouth]

10:58 PM on 04/14/2010

While it is perfectly obvious why he was dismissed from his job at that seminary, I fail to understand why a fairly intelligent person would consider working there. The article states he is an OT scholar. That's like saying someone is an Egyptian Book of the Dead scholar (which there may be some). However, such a scholar knows it is just literature. Many people study myths, only the deluded teach them as fact.

“The Jews, the Muslims and the Christians, they've all got it wrong. The people of the world only divide into two kinds, one sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.”
- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri, 10th century Syrian poet

[oregon bird]

11:21 PM on 04/14/2010

How does being an OT scholar make him unintelligent? He is a repository of knowledge of the physical landscape of ancient Judea, he knows the average rainfall, the population percentages, the political currents of the time, the social standing of musicians and camel drivers. All because that information impacts on the reality of the people who wrote the scriptures that were chosen for the OT. It is knowledge. That you have no respect for knowledge that you cannot comprehend as useful pretty much makes you someone that your Syrian poet would sneer at.

[jayrayspicer]

02:11 AM on 04/15/2010

That's not what InTheSouth said. InTheSouth said, "I fail to understand why a fairly intelligent person would consider working there," referring to the seminary that rejects evolution. InTheSouth did not object to Waltke's being an OT scholar.

[NaturesGodsSeeker]

05:18 AM on 04/15/2010

Old Testament "scholar"? There is such a thing? Why no Easter Bunny scholars or Santa Claus scholars?

The above is rhetorical. I actually know the answer.

[ForVivi]

10:43 PM on 04/14/2010

He was "just sayin'"...

[cef911f1]

10:28 PM on 04/14/2010

"....According to several people who saw the video, Waltke said that Christianity's continued denial of evolution will "make [them] a cult.""

When where they anything but?

[famouslyanonymous]

04:39 AM on 04/15/2010

Amen, always have been a cult, always will be a cult.

[begtse]

09:57 PM on 04/14/2010

I believe that the fact that a huge majority of democrats are Catholics and quite religious, is ample proof of why the base seems to be otherwise so delusional in how they see other issues.

Only fools believe in religion.

[David Belkevitz]

10:05 PM on 04/14/2010

Can you back that statement up with any figures? I am a democrat and back home in my native UK we would hold monthly meetings discussing the politics of the day. In all my 40 odd years of being involved with politics, I have never seen that breakdown that you state. For the record, I am an atheist and I think your assumption that all people who follow a particular religion are 'fools'? shows just how shallow your views are.

[begtse]

10:17 PM on 04/14/2010

My goodness sport! What do you suppose the Irish and Italians and Mexicans do on Sunday? And for which candidate do you suppose they vote?

As to my assertion that those who believe in religion are superstitious fools, well "heavens", do you consider Bill Maher shallow as well? Would you like me to copy and past the comments from your fellow atheists here?

[dan54b]

10:42 PM on 04/14/2010

i think Catholics tend to be more moderate/Independent politically.

[Uncle Bill]

11:14 PM on 04/14/2010

I think they are as scattered across the political map as American Jews are. Cases in point- the Catholic Worker vs the National Review, both founded by Catholics. Martin Sheen, Robert Kennedy Jr, Pat Buchanan, Bill Donohue all Roman Catholics.

[Joram Jante]

09:25 PM on 04/14/2010

What happened to Prof. Waltke was unjustly done. If they would’ve had thought about it, they could have asked him for the evidence he had come across and maybe had a leading expert explain or collaborate with Pro. Waltke to see their end result it would've not only helped Christians but also the rest of the world. Not that we need that help. ;)

[mollybeejay]

08:38 AM on 04/15/2010

Please, the evidence is there , has been there and will continue to be there. You just refuse to see it. I worked with a woman who said that the dinosaur bone which have been found all over the world, were fakes that had been planted. She said it was a conspiracy. done by people who did not believe in the Bible.

[mollybeejay]

08:39 AM on 04/15/2010

Sorry, that should say dinosaur bones.