Here is the section titled “Truth, science and emerging technologies” from The Cape Town Commitment, which was produced by the Lausanne Movement in 2011:
Truth, science and emerging technologies
This century is widely known as ‘the Bio-tech Century’, with advances in all the emerging technologies (bio, info/digital, nano, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics). This has deep implications for the Church and for mission, particularly in relation to the biblical truth of what it means to be human. We need to promote authentically Christian responses and practical action in the arena of public policies, to ensure that science and technology are used not to manipulate, distort and destroy, but to preserve and better fulfil our humanness, as those whom God has created in his own image. We call on:
A) Local church leaders to
(i) encourage, support and ask questions of church members who are professionally engaged in science, technology, healthcare and public policy,
and
(ii) to present to theologically thoughtful students the need for Christians to enter these arenas.
B) Seminaries to engage with these fields in their curricula, so future Church leaders and theological educators develop an informed Christian critique of the new technologies.
C) Theologians, and Christians in government, business, academia and technical fields, to form national or regional ‘think tanks’ or partnerships to engage with new technologies and scientific advances, and to speak into the shaping of public policy with a voice that is biblical and relevant.
D) All local Christian communities to demonstrate respect for the unique dignity and sanctity of human life, by practical and holistic caring which integrates the physical, emotional, relational and spiritual aspects of our created humanity.
I’ll probably come back to this blog later and invest more thought into it. For now, however, I just wanted to draw some attention to it. It’s definitely interesting, right?
Should Christian philosophers, scientists, and others attempt to give ethical advice on some of these “brave new world” issues raised by powerful technologies? Is that really part of the mission of the church in the world today? Did Peter, Paul, John, and the other apostles do anything analogous to this in the first century while the Roman Empire was making several controversial moral decisions? Is it part of being “salt and light” perhaps? I think this is actually an important arena to start to speak intelligently and courageously and creatively into. I’ll try to explain why later.
What should be done?
I like the idea of “think tanks” tackling the issues. There are a few guys at Reasons to Believe (http://reasons.org), a few guys at Probe (https://probe.org), a few guys at the Discovery Institute (https://www.discovery.org), a few guys from Southern Evangelical Seminary (http://ses.edu), and a few guys from the International Society of Christian Apologetics (http://isca-apologetics.org) who have written and spoken on some of these topics. I’m sure there are many others that should be added to the list.
What about taking it to the next level by getting several experts together to do see if the issues can be catalogued, summarized, explained in simple ways, evaluated, and see if any consensus can be had. I’m interested in forming a council of sorts, modeled after the ICBI (International Council on Biblical Inerrancy) which produced the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics, and the Chicago Statement on Biblical Application. I’d like to see several Christian philosophers, scientists, technologists, futurists, ethicists, theologians, and other thinkers produce a statement that focuses on the ethics of emerging technologies and the ideologies of technology-driven evolutionary humanism. I imagine a statement that is similar to and predicated upon the Chicago Statement on Biblical Application. [Download the Chicago Statements for free as PDF files from http://bastionbooks.com/explaining-biblical-inerrancy/.] I’d like to see simple clear statements of affirmation and denial that most laymen and pastors and theologians can work with. And I’d also like to see it expanded into a multi-author, multi-editor tome that is on par with the 2017 Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique? How do we get the ball rolling on something like this? And I’d like to be a part of it.
Copyright © 2019 Christopher Travis Haun – All Rights Reserved
Author: C.T. Haun
Posted: April 2017
Last updated: Feb 24 2019
Status: Unfinished. Expect several more sporadic updates.
