Perspectives on Evolution Journal 1: School, Church, and Family

The following reflections focus largely on Christianity and worldview. They constitute responses to journalling prompts, which stem from a capstone course in biology.

1. Did you attend public schools or private and/or Christian schools? Tell me a little about your experiences in school—especially with respect to Origins issues (the Big Bang, long history of the Earth, or of evolution).

I attended public schools until the sixth grade: Buchanan Park and Rousseau Elementary. Grades 6–8 were spent at Calvin Christian School (CCS). After finishing Grade 10 at Hamilton District Christian High (HDCH), I dropped out.

My memories are blurry. It’s a neat exercise: looking back so far. Mrs Robinson, my Grade 1 teacher, encouraged me to write. I can see myself putting together a picture book of monarch butterflies. In Grade 4, I remember learning something about the Earth’s water cycle. “But where does the rain actually come from?” As the son of an Anglican priest, I had some awareness of the Bible’s creation story; I was being cheeky, trying to provoke a Christian response from Mr Tilbury. 

He answered scientifically: “Well, David, if you’d been paying attention, you’d know that precipitation follows evaporation.” 

As a kid, I carried the perspective that Christianity was a taboo topic for public-school teachers. Maybe it was: at the moment, I’m too lazy to look up relevant school-board policies from the 1990s. I certainly can’t recall any classroom conversations about Christ or the Devil. CCS and HDCH were much different from Rousseau. The students were different, the teachers were different: I was surrounded by predominantly God-fearing Dutch peers. On the first day of Grade-9 geography class, Mr Kamphuis sat at the front of the room: “I’m going to do something that would get me arrested in other parts of the world,” he said. “Let’s pray.”  

I can’t really recollect evolutionary discussions from back then. The Big Bang was definitely explored a bit, as was the possibility of an ancestral relationship between humans and other primates. I never truly subscribed to a particular idea, but I believed that God created the universe through some miraculous means: Big Bang or otherwise. 

2. Did you attend church growing up? What denomination or religious tradition(s) has most influenced the way you see the world? Tell me a little about your experiences in church—especially with respect to Origins issues (same as above).

Yep. Most of my church-service memories pertain to Christ Church, Woodburn: an Anglican parish for which my mom served as minister. My dad was an organist, playing for both Anglican and United services. Some Sundays, I turned pages for the man at Christ’s Church Cathedral. Worship was a weekly event—an obligation; however, I can’t recall any sermons on Earth’s evolutionary origins.  

My mom’s still active in the Anglican community, but her approach to religion reflects both Pentecostal and Evangelical attitudes. She was a big fan of Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer; growing up, such charismatic preachers seemed to occupy the television on a nightly basis. I grew to resent them tremendously—as did my father. At an early age, maybe around 11, I accepted the notion of spiritual warfare. Rebecca Brown’s books are reportedly fraudulent (Baskette, 2004), but the author’s stories of witchcraft and demonic possession intrigued me. After watching Omen IV, I became nervously fascinated by the Antichrist and biblical apocalypse. I spent a lot of time reading Revelation. As an adult, I’ve become a lot less romantic; however, I maintain a supernatural worldview, which accommodates both prophecy and invisible forces of good and evil (take this with a grain of salt, but get ready for 2028).

Martial arts had a massive impact on my spirituality. At the age of 12, I studied karate. Kung fu, taekwondo, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu came later. Honestly, I was never a good fighter: in taekwondo, I only reached the blue-belt rank. Instead of training properly, I fantasised about becoming a martial-arts hero: daydreaming, watching Jet Li movies, sojourning in China as a high-school dropout. I planned to discipline myself at the Shaolin Temple. In the end, I spent my days with a Sichuanese girlfriend, all but abandoning my pugilistic ambition.

Nevertheless, I did pick up some Mandarin; it’s still better than my French. Through both martial arts and travel, I was exposed to Eastern philosophy. I believe that Taoism, Buddhism, meditation, and tai chi can complement Christian practices; for me, a better understanding of God involves participation in various traditions. 

3. Tell me a bit about your family’s influence in your life. Please also discuss how your family has shaped your view about Origins issues.

My older brother has always been irascible; we’re not close. I have a younger sister; she and I have a solid relationship. We three siblings are similar in age: 38, 36, 34. My brother and I were both delivered on the Advent Sundays of our birth years; each coincidence filled my pious mother with absolute joy. When I was 14, my parents divorced—I’ll save the story for a memoir. Considering both good and destructive behaviour, I see my mother and father as teachers.    

Specific examples are escaping me, but evolution was definitely an occasional subject in my childhood home. Between my parents, my mom must’ve introduced me to the Bible. I was familiar with Genesis; we had VHS tapes of Hanna-Barbera’s The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible. I can’t imagine my mom’s current position on Darwinian issues, but I remember that she was profoundly averse to the Big Bang and Lucy the ape.

4. How is your worldview similar or different from members of your family or important people in your church (formative Sunday School teachers, or pastors, etc.)?

My family and I haven’t chatted existentially for a long while. I should check in with my sister: get a better idea of how she sees things. To be honest, I’m quite out of touch with both blood and Church. When you believe in Jesus Christ and psychedelic drugs, it can be tough to find your tribe. I feel like a bit of a religious nomad, borrowing ideas from shamanism and applying them to a biblical foundation. That being said, the time has come for me to read my Bible from front to back; now that I’ve largely abandoned my puerility, I’m sure that I’ll appreciate the verses in new ways.

References

Baskette, J. (2004). The bizarre case of Dr. Rebecca Brown. The Dove, 24(1), 63–71. https://www.eaec.org/dove/dove2004/rebecca_brown.htm