The Dawn Treader

Salon has an interesting article on everyone's favorite topic : creation versus evolution.  The article documents an interview with University of Wisconsin historian (and author) Ronald Numbers.

Numbers is a former seventh day adventist who, after attending Berkeley, turned from young earth creationism to fully embracing macroevolution and religious agnosticism.  Numbers, however,  is a kinder gentler evolutionist.  And, unlike most evolutionists, he actually gets a lot of things right as he analyzes those of us who don't share his views on evolution.

Here is the final installment of my conversation with my friend Steve, the molecular biologist.  I consolidated all four posts into a  single post to provide some continuity.  If you have read the previous posts, then simply skip down to "Part 4 of 4" to catch the new stuff.

I want to thank Steve for his extensive and thoughtful answers.  I appreciate the time he put into this.

Part Un
Part Deux

Me: Does evolutionary theory play a serious role in cancer research?   

Steve: Okay, so here is where I would get in trouble with my colleagues.

In this series:

Part Un
Part Trois

Me: "Do you think the advancement of knowledge in genetics and molecular biology over the past thirty years has strengthened the case for naturalistic evolution, or weakened it?"

Also in the series:

Part Deux
Part Trois

After the popularity of my interview with the professor of biology, I thought I would do a follow-up interview with another professional.

My friend Steve has 14 years of experience in academic research and 11 years experience in industry as a molecular and cell biologist. He is actively working on two projects involving cancer research.  He is part of a team studying a peculiar enzyme that "deals with a very odd DNA and RNA structure and is made by the boatloads in cancer cells".

I am doing this interview through email rather than over the phone. Steve is extremely busy, so I will post Steve's responses as we go along.  You will have the benefit of seeing his own words instead of my transcript of a conversation.

Me: "Do you think God relied solely on naturalistic mechanisms (i.e. no miracles) to create all life forms including man?"