An Evening with Michael Ruse

Or more accurately, an evening with delightful company interrupted for a couple hours by Michael Ruse. I went last night to an address by Ruse, the inaugural event of a series of lectures on the subject of religion and science. Those of you who have seen Ruse speak will not be surprised by my review of his performance. He is an immensely charming Brit with a mischievous sense of humor, and like most philosophers he manages to say in an hour and a half what a normal human being could say in 25 minutes. His talk was on the history of the evolution/creationism struggle in America, and specifically about why this struggle is so prominent in America and nowhere else. HIs answer involved Great Awakenings 1 and 2, the use of evolution as a secular religion by the likes of Thomas Henry Huxley and the resulting backlash, and the role of evolution in a much larger and longer term struggle between faith and reason. Not a bad answer, all in all.

The speech was well attended, packing a large lecture hall with extra chairs in it as well. Four members of the board of Michigan Citizens for Science board were in attendance - myself, Greg Forbes, Howard Van Till (who is on the advisory board of the group that put this lecture series together, the last of which he is giving himself, also on the subject of intelligent design) and Don Weinshank. Weinshank and Ruse go way back. The two of them had a tag team debate against Henry Morris and Duane Gish back in 1977.

After the speech and a brief Q & A period, I went to a late dinner with Don Weinshank and his wife Annette, and with Dave Snyder and his wife Saskia. Dave teaches undergrad American history and his wife is getting her PhD in modern Jewish history. Don and Annette are both retired academics and amateur scholars in Jewish history as well, so we had quite a stimulating discussion that ranged from biblical interpretation to the evolution of our own religious views to the work of Maimonides and Aquinas. Just a delightful couple of hours spent with interesting and charming people. So thanks to all of them for an evening of intellectual stimulation and good company.