Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D., is a biology professor, author, and evolution activist who founded the Clergy Letter Project in 2004. The Clergy Letter Project brings together clergy of many religions in support of teaching evolution in school. The Project also fosters dialog among scientists and people of many spiritual traditions on the relationship of religion and science.
As the name suggests, the Clergy Letter Project hosts open letters from clergy in support of teaching evolution. More than 12,800 American Christian clerics have signed the Christian clergy letter, for example. More than 450 American rabbis and more than 250 Unitarian Universalist ministers have signed their respective letters.
Now a group from the Blue Mountain Lotus Society of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has composed and signed a Buddhist clergy letter. Blue Mountain appears to be unaffiliated with any dharma lineage (I apologize if that is not correct) so I don't know if anyone in the group would be recognized as ordained clergy outside their own society. But let's look at the letter.
"If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims or adopt them as metaphor."
-- The Universe in a Single Atom Tenzin Gyatso - The Dalai Lama
As the above quote indicates, the Buddhist tradition is primarily a rational religion. The earliest Buddhist teachings are intended to help all sentient beings to live a life of integrity in harmony with reality. While the specific science of evolution is not explicitly taught in our faith, it is implicit in the core teaching of interdependent origination, which demonstrates that all things are interconnected and contingent upon one another for their form and development. Likewise, a creator deity is not relied upon for a creation story. The ancient Indian fables of the Buddha's various incarnations from animal to human are readily understood not as a literal history but as metaphor describing the evolving nature of life. In fact, the concept of Buddha itself is best understood as a symbol for humanity's evolutionary potential. For all of these reasons, we admonish public school boards to affirm their commitment to teaching the science of evolution. We understand the role of public schools is to educate students in the established principles of science and in other subjects of general knowledge.
I'd give it a B minus; I am not crazy about "the concept of Buddha itself is best understood as a symbol for humanity's evolutionary potential."Â Not the "best" understanding, I don't think. I would have put more emphasis on Dependent Origination and less on the metaphors.
Even so, I'd like to see more Buddhist clergy take opportunities to step up on issues like this. Evolution in particular is a no-brainer for us.
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