Monday, June 22, 2009

A Hymn To Accommodation

Praise the pow’r of faith unswerving
In the face of evidence.
With a doctrine undeserving,
We must cling to our pretense;
Let us climb the rugged mountain
Though the cliffs are in our way:
“Faith and science from one fountain”
Let’s repeat the old cliché.

Faith and science, we must tether,
Through our cunning and our art,
Force the twain to come together
Though they long to cleave apart.
With the use of clever framing
Forge a bond that will not break;
Then, resort to petty blaming
Cov’ring up our own mistake.

Now two currents in the ocean
Long diverged, and long discrete,
One long stilled, and one in motion
Nevermore the two to meet;
Pray that God will cause a blending
Till they carve a single course
Justify our whine unending:
Faith and science, joined by force.



(The original is "Praise the Source of Faith and Learning"--text can be found here.)

Cuttlecap tip to PZ, of course, for reporting on the PEW Forum.

For those with a masochistic streak, Francis Collins sings the original at the end of this mp3.






Oh, yeah, buy my book, note the tip jar, yadda yadda yadda...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought Frances Collins was a Catholic? That's an awfully Protestant-sounding hymn.

Ein’ feste Burg ist unsere Artz,
Ein gute Wehr und Waffen;
Er hilft uns frei aus aller Kampf
Mit Wissenshaft und Welten.

Anonymous said...

If there are any native German speakers reading Cuttlefish, can I just say that Ich habe nur zwei jarhe Deutsch nimmt im Gymnasium, nach fünf-und-zwanzig jarhe? Nicht so schlecht, ja?

Unknown said...

Not a native speaker, but according to Google Translate: Nein, das ist ein anständiger Versuch.

Ah, technology. Allowing us to pretend we are much more knowledgeable than we are.

Eamon Knight said...

I thought Frances Collins was a Catholic?

Evangelical Protestant, IIRC. It's Ken Miller (the other prominent accomodationist) who is Catholic (and FWIW, I haven't heard Miller saying anything nearly as silly as what Collins has been spouting lately. Which isn't to say he's right, either).