Creation, evolution, and everything in between have recently become major talking points in the Christian blogosphere. Sadly, though, many people spend far too much time arguing points instead of discussing issues. One of the primary ways we can stop the arguing and start the discussion is by clarifying our terms.
People care far too little about words. I once watched the movie “V is for Vendetta,” and it had one of the greatest quotes about the importance of words that I have ever heard. The main character, V, made this statement in one of his numerous, semantically beautiful, monologues: “words offer a means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth.” It is through words that we primarily communicate. Therefore, let us engage in this debate paying strict attention to the words we employ to describe the concepts we discuss. Specifically, I want to clarify four terms which will play an important role in this discussion: science, scientism, evolution, and evolutionism.
Science may seem like a simple term, but I would say that the word science is simple like the word love is simple. They’re both used all the time, but sometimes you have to step back and ask what is really being communicated when someone throws that word into a conversation. If you grew up in America, then you most likely think of science as the collection of data which is systematically organized to reveal a law of nature. This describes some aspects of science, but it does not explain them very well. Author C. John Collins crafted his own definition of science based upon the peculiarities expressed in most other definitions: empirical data, the production of laws, and objectivity. Collins says that “a science is a discipline in which one studies features of the world around us, and tries to describe his observations systematically and critically.”[i] This definition does an excellent job of keeping the unavoidable human element in focus. Collins knows that no person is capable of complete objectivity, but scientists may try for it. It is vitally important for people to recognize and explore the human element involved in scientific inquiry, and our definition of science should include the inevitable fact of human interference.
Scientism is something wholly different than science, and much more popular in the public arena. Science is and ongoing discipline of study. Scientism is a pattern of belief. Scientism says science is not only capable of explaining every, single, little aspect of life, but scientism also says science will explain everything in completely naturalistic terms. Now, there is a very subtle difference here, but it needs to be noted. Scientism is a worldview which uses naturalism as its foundational truth. It starts with the belief that nothing can occur without natural causes, and goes on from there to believe that science is capable of discovering every one of those natural causes. When a scientist excludes a possible causal explanation before the experiment has been performed, there is no chance of objectivity. The scientist has not upheld the definition of science (empirical data, the production of laws, and objectivity) which means that he is no longer practicing science, he is practicing scientism. Scientism is a system of belief which places the methods of science on a pedestal supported by the worldview of naturalism, excluding the supernatural.
The word evolution describes a process of change over time. Although this word seems to be very simple and the definition I provided seems very basic, there is a lot of baggage that gets stuffed into a conversation when someone uses the word evolution. Some people associate the word evolution with scientific discovery. Others equate evolution with a direct challenge to their faith. Still, others may hear the word evolution and associate the process described with atheism, no questions asked. All of these associations muddy the waters when people are trying to have a civil conversation about a supremely interesting subject. Therefore, when engaging in a discussion about evolution, ignore the feelings brought out in you by the word and clarify the breadth of explanatory power being presupposed by those involved in the discussion. Evolution describes change occurring over time, but use of the word evolution should not be confused with evolutionism.
Evolutionism is just a little bit different and a lot more troublesome than the simple word evolution. And yes, I did make up the word evolutionism. Evolutionism is the belief that Darwinian evolution is capable of explaining everything that exists in the world around us. Historically, evolutionism is the intellectually satisfying explanation of how naturalism is practically possible. I simply made up the word evolutionism is to better express what some people really mean when they use the simple word evolution. Evolution is very different than evolutionism; one is an ongoing event, the other is a comprehensive expression of a worldview presupposition. Because of the ambiguity of culturally loaded terms, always make sure that those involved in the conversation are on the same page, using the same terms in the same way.
At heart, scientism is the epistemological explanation of naturalism, evolutionism being the methodological explanation. Either way, when you are engaging in a conversation with either believers or non-believers, do not take your words for granted; take the time to clarify from the outset and you may find yourself having a discussion where you once would have had a battle. Fight over the words, discuss the issues. It just makes things cleaner.
[i] C. John Collins, Science and Faith: Friends or Foes, Crossway, 2003.
