February 12, Evolution Sunday?

Answers in Genesis has a good article today titled "In Praise of Darwin This Sunday...In Hundreds of Churches". The article starts out by saying,

This Sunday, over 400 congregations in 49 states in the USA will participate in what could be called a “Darwin praise service.” They will be celebrating (yes, that’s the word that could be used for many of the churches) the 197th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. It’s called “Evolution Sunday.”

The article discusses the crusade of Professor Michale Zimmerman of the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh to link science and the Biblical creation account together. The twist is that he is persuading Pastors to give up faith in the Genesis creation account in favor of the Evolution account. It is a very interesting article you can find here. Link.

Another excerpt from the article says,

On 12 February 2006 hundreds of Christian churches from all portions of the country and a host of denominations will come together to discuss the compatibility of religion and science. For far too long, strident voices, in the name of Christianity, have been claiming that people must choose between religion and modern science. More than 10,000 Christian clergy have already signed The Clergy Letter demonstrating that this is a false dichotomy. Now, on the 197th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, many of these leaders will bring this message to their congregations through sermons and/or discussion groups. Together, participating religious leaders will be making the statement that religion and science are not adversaries. And, together, they will be elevating the quality of the national debate on this topic.

I find two very incredible items in this article:

First, that you can be a Pastor in a mainline denomination and not believe in the inerrancy of scripture. Personally, if I didn't believe in the Genesis creation account I could never serve in the position of Pastor.

And second, where is the separation of church and state? Pastors are ever increasingly aware that they must strive to be politically correct and vague in their political views or risk inviting lawsuits, but on the other end, this professor is an employee of the State of Wisconsin and yet he can use the university's website and his position to promote his political/religious agenda.

Where is the balance?