THEY are going to hell, and have been described as 鈥淐hristian whores, atheists and worse鈥�. What could be worse is hard to imagine, but such are the epithets being hurled by fundamentalist Christians at thousands of Christian clergy who have declared themselves comfortable with both religion and evolution.
More than 10,000 clergy have signed up to the 鈥淐lergy Letter Project鈥�, launched in 2004 by Michael Zimmerman of the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh. 鈥淓volution Sunday鈥�, held in February to discuss the compatibility of science and religion, is planned to become a yearly event at churches across the US, Zimmerman says.
鈥淔or the first time in America, thousands of Christian clergy are standing up and making it clear that the Christian fundamentalists who are shrilly screaming about the evils of evolution are not speaking for them,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 hoping this demonstrates to a broader swathe of the public just how intolerant the fundamentalists really are.鈥�
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鈥淚鈥檓 hoping this demonstrates just how intolerant Christian fundamentalists really are鈥�
鈥淭he Clergy Letter Project demolishes any claim that the struggles over evolution in the US are a matter of science and religion in conflict,鈥� says Kenneth Miller of Brown University, Rhode Island. Miller was the lead witness for the group of parents who last year successfully took the school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, to court to stop the teaching of 鈥渋ntelligent design鈥� in science classes.
