Posted on 02/07/2005 7:30:07 AM PST by mike182d
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Catholic educators need better teaching programs about evolution "to correct the anti-evolution biases that Catholics pick up" from the general society, according to a U.S. bishops' official involved in dialogue with scientists for 20 years.
Without a church view of human creation that is consistent with currently accepted scientific knowledge, "Catholicism may begin to seem less and less 'realistic' to more and more thoughtful people," said David Byers, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Science and Human Values from 1984 to 2003.
"That dynamic is a far greater obstacle to religious assent than evolution," he said in a bylined article in the Feb. 7 issue of America, a weekly magazine published in New York by the Jesuits. The article discussed the value of the dialogues with scientists organized by the bishops' committee.
"Denying that humans evolved seems by this point a waste of time," he said without mentioning specific controversies in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnews.com ...
Betrayal? Should the Catholic Church continue to live in the Dark Ages? Evolution is an accepted fact. People need to learn that "evolution" and "creation" can live side by side without conflict.
I get comfort from being a member of a nondenominational church that relies on the Bible rather than religion...
And the beat goes on.
"Catholicism may begin to seem less and less 'realistic' to more and more thoughtful people,"
I don't understand the statement being made. I would hope that Catholics become more and more thoughtful people. I think what they are trying to say, as badly as David Byers has said here, is that there is a misconception that Catholics, in general, are anti-science. That is simply not true.
They adapt. A virus is a virus. A virus doesn't turn into a cat.
I don't trust much that comes from today's Jesuits. They are simply not the same kind of men that I knew during my years of Jesuit education. I believe that Pope John Paul has made a clear distinction between "micro evolution", which are more or less gradual adaptative changes over time within various species (including humans) and "macro evolution" which would lead us back to a fish having walked up on the beach one day in the process of becoming a man.
I don't know whether this is too fine a distinction for the average secularist to understand or perhaps they purposely overlook it in order to keep a foolish argument going.
Evolution is still only a theory. And it seems the left is really taking a hard stance on it. The other night we watched a nature show about Cuba. They where throwing around the "such and such millions of years ago" thing for the reasons why this animal and that animal came to Cuba. It got to the point where it seemed like they were just trying to push an agenda.
There's no doubt in my mind that God created the world. How and it what time frame He did really doesn't matter that much other than, "Oh, is that how He did it?".
I doubt anyone denies adaptation. I think people refuse to believe our ancestors were monkeys.
""Betrayal" is the only word I can think of right now..."
Betrayal seems an odd word to use. Since the RCC already accepts evolution as the way species developed, then they're simply clarifying the issue in the face of those who would have the creation story from Genesis as literal truth.
Sorry, but you'll find that most Christian denominations accept evolution as the means by which species came about. Not all, but most.
I have taught my kids that both evolution and creationism are theories. Both have components that are arguable for and against. As far as I know, the Catholic Church has never come out and said how God created the Earth or man. When the Bible says that Adam was taken from the dust of the Earth. How did God do it? How long did it take? What did a day in Genesis represent? All these questions are not answered by Faith alone. Science and scientific testing of various theories can help man obtain a better understand of how God works. The strict evolutionists are just as anti-science as the strict creationists. The fact is that nobody alive today was there when God created the Earth. So any ideas that we have are just educated guesses. The Bishop is right that the Church must be open to what it can learn from science to better understand how God wove His creation. There is no denial of God in evolution as long as man accepts that all creation was guided by God throughout - IMHO.
"By their fruits, you shall know them"
The CC has a long and notorious history of political expediency and doctrinal compromise. It's what comes from adopting a belief that their clergy continue to get "revelations" about the suppossed "incomplete" scriptures. Non sola scriptura reaps what it sows.
It's a first cousin to the "living Constitution" mindset: "Go with the times."
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