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Religious debate leaves unanswered questions

By Walter J. Caywood
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 9, 1999
Send comments to:
editor@wildcat.arizona.edu

To the editor,

I was pleased to see that the Wildcat printed a debate regarding evolution and "proving" the existence of God on Feb. 5. My thanks go to the columnists (Brad Wallace and Rachel Alexander) and to the editor for engaging the question.

As I read their columns, it occurred to me that both Wallace and Alexander, while thoughtfully articulating some valid points, missed a key issue in this question of origins, belief and God. Alexander listed facts, quotes and deduced from them to form her argument. Wallace, on the other hand, presented the "I believe this...believe what you want, but just be good" argument in his own unique way.

Neither of these approaches, however, help to make sense of the larger question of belief/non-belief in God.

The central issue of belief is whether one is willing to personally face a Being who created the universe and everything on this planet. (Questions of how the "scientific method" and "Evolution" affect arguments for God's existence are secondary to this issue.) Behind the intellectual dueling over the reasonableness of belief lie some basic questions and answers: Did God create the world? What is this Being like? What can we know about God? However one deals with these questions, at the gut level of the heart, affirming God's existence entails actual faith and submission to Someone other than yourself. Perhaps this is why so many have difficulty believing in God.

Walter J. Caywood
Religious studies senior