The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-10
Science and the Scriptures.

At the recent meeting of the British
| Association for the Advancement Of
Science a controversy older than any
Of our readers was revived--the con-
| flict between science and religion.
The latest phase of the discussion,
however, is decidedly novel in one
respect: the clerical disputants are
asserting that the modern teachings
of science are accepted by the Church
of England, and that it is no longer
necessary for one to believe In the
Scrlptural story of the creation and
the fall of man in order to be good
| Christian.
The principal proponent Of this doc.
trine Is Canon ERNEST WILLIAM
BARNES Of Westminster, who preached
a remarkable sermon before the asso
citation on the fall of man. The Adam
and Eve narrative in the Bible, he
says, is rejected by the most compe
tent scholars as unhistorical. mo
bishop" he asserts, mo Noncop-
formist divine, no scholar or man of
science of eminence has come forward
to deny explicitly that man is de-
scended from the lower animals"
The Canon himself expressly ac-
cepts the evolutionary hypothesis Of
the origin Of all species of living
creatures, including man, but believes
that this assumption is consistent With
faith in the existence Of Con and with
the Christian doctrine of personal
Immortality.
Canon BARNES Is not only dis
tingulshed clergyman and preacher
but is also eminent as man Of
science. Seldom, indeed, has any min
lister of the Gospel been entitled, as
he is, to write the letters #. X. s.
after his name, signifying fellowship
In the Royal Society of London, the
greatest and most exclusive scientific
society In the world. His distinction
In science, 1t Is true, has been won as
mathematician, and the origin of
man Is q subject belonging to the do
main of biology; nevertheless, such u
scholar Is imbued with the scientific
spirit of investigation which leads the
inquirer to prove all things and hold
fast 10 that which Is true"
Where a man who Is learned both
In science and theology announces his
matured conclusion that evolution and
Christianity are reconcilable, so far
at least as the Christian doctrine Of
conscious immortality is concerned,
the announcement must be received
with profound satisfaction by innu-
merable churchgoers who have tried
to harmonic Darwinism with the
story Of the creation Of man in the
book of Genesis, and have been deeply
worried because their inability TO do
80 seemed fatal to the essentials OF
Christianity.
II man has been evolved from less
developed primates 1t is obvious, says
Canon BARNES, that the Genesis mar
ratlve Of the fall is impossible.
Death" he asserts, did not come
into the world through human sin.
There was no first man made In the
image OF Con. Science postulates some
tribal group In whom human ration
allty began to dawn. Human labor
is part OF the divine scheme by which
progress Is achieved; sin adds to It.,
but no cursing of the ground followed
from mans dlsobedlence to GoD" Chill
dren should therefore be taught. he
urges, what the leaders of Christian
thought have come to believe In re-
gard to these matters; namely, that
the Scriptural story Of the creation
and fall Is mythical and Of value only
In an allegorlcal sense.
The Bishop of Norwich, writing to
the London Times on the sermon Of
Canon BARNES, says It makes little
= difference what we call the story In
Genesis so long as we understand
that IL is not the story itself but the
truth within II which is OF supreme
Importance. The truth Is that at does
not matter through how long a time
: or In what manner man was do
veloped from lower organisms. But
Aby processes, which we leave II 20
science 10 Investigate. man did In