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Church needs better evolution education, says bishops' official
Catholic News Service ^ | 2-1-2005

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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: bishops; catholic; church; creation; evolution; god; schools; science
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To: MineralMan
Since the RCC already accepts evolution as the way species developed

The Roman Catholic Church does not make statements on the truth of scientific claims, nor is it meant to. It is wholly concerned with spirituality and morality. Thus, for the Church to even suggest that a particular scientific theory must be ascribed to by its body of believers is proposterous and even heretical.
21 posted on 02/07/2005 7:46:41 AM PST by mike182d
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To: mlc9852

"I think people refuse to believe our ancestors were monkeys."

Some people, perhaps. In reality, nobody teaches that the species leading to humans were "monkeys." They were not. Monkeys and Primates developed in different directions, while having common predecessors.

Humans are not monkeys. They're primates.


22 posted on 02/07/2005 7:47:06 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: mike182d

BTW, a number of scientists, including devout Catholics who would have no doctrinal reason to disagree with this bishop, in fact do disagree very strongly. See, e.g., Michael Behe and William Dembski.


23 posted on 02/07/2005 7:49:17 AM PST by mikeus_maximus
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To: mike182d

From www.catholic.com:

"Concerning biological evolution, the Church does not have an official position on whether various life forms developed over the course of time. However, it says that, if they did develop, then they did so under the impetus and guidance of God, and their ultimate creation must be ascribed to him.

Concerning human evolution, the Church has a more definite teaching. It allows for the possibility that man’s body developed from previous biological forms, under God’s guidance, but it insists on the special creation of his soul. Pope Pius XII declared that "the teaching authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions . . . take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter—[but] the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God" (Pius XII, Humani Generis 36). So whether the human body was specially created or developed, we are required to hold as a matter of Catholic faith that the human soul is specially created; it did not evolve, and it is not inherited from our parents, as our bodies are.
"


24 posted on 02/07/2005 7:49:45 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Lunatic Fringe

Evolution is not a fact, it is a scientific theory. You discredit yourself by suggesting otherwise. No credible scientist would call it anything else.

There is no doubt humans, and species, adapt to their environment, but that is only a small part of the theory of evolution. Evolution does not explain the creation of the building blocks of life. It does not explain the motive forces behind life.

Why should molecules decide to reproduce at all?

Evolutionary processes are powerful. I have studied them and used them for algorithm development.

But ask yourself, at what point did evolution insert a soul into man?

Why should chemical sludge bother evolving into anything in the first place?


25 posted on 02/07/2005 7:50:06 AM PST by Mark Felton (We are free because we are Christian. There is no other reason.)
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Comment #26 Removed by Moderator

To: mikeus_maximus
their clergy continue to get "revelations" about the suppossed "incomplete" scriptures. Non sola scriptura reaps what it sows.

2 Peter 1:20-21
"Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God."

With all due respect, the Bible just didn't float down on a cloud in its completed form. It was compiled and canonized by "clergy" with their "revelations."
27 posted on 02/07/2005 7:50:56 AM PST by mike182d
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To: mikeus_maximus

Why is it that we have hundreds of "sola scriptura" denominations that each have very different interpretations of what scripture says? Isn't that the definition of a "living Constitution"? Every denomination has set itself up as the final arbiter of what God was saying.

Just a thought.


28 posted on 02/07/2005 7:51:47 AM PST by lnbchip
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To: MineralMan

Do you think all "primates" are equal?


29 posted on 02/07/2005 7:52:00 AM PST by mlc9852
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To: mike182d
With all due respect, there is no such thing as a "non-denominational" Church. There are inter-denominational Churches but not "non-denominational." If someone who believed that Jesus wasn't God and claimed he didn't need the Bible, would you accept him or re-catechize him?

We are Christians, but do not espouse/follow any of the religions (Catholic, Episcopal, Babptist, etc.). The Bible and it's teachings does not constitute a "religion". While Christain-based religions are based on the Bible, the Bible does not mention or require them. In fact, the Old Testament and The Law are religion-based (sets of rules to follow to attain heaven), but the New Testament lets us know that we can never be worthy by or of ourselves - thus making religion obsolete and a bar rather than an avenue.

I would try to give the Good News of the Gospels to your non-believing individual - the rest would be up to him and Him.

30 posted on 02/07/2005 7:52:19 AM PST by trebb ("I am the way... no one comes to the Father, but by me..." - Jesus in John 14:6 (RSV))
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To: Lunatic Fringe
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.

The Catholic Church opposes neither evolution nor science. They are light years ahead of the fanatical "Christian" creationists.

31 posted on 02/07/2005 7:53:28 AM PST by WildTurkey (When will CBS Retract and Apologize?)
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To: mlc9852
Do you think all "primates" are equal?

Based on dumb questions like that, I can safely conclude that creationists were not in line when God passed out the brains.

33 posted on 02/07/2005 7:55:09 AM PST by WildTurkey (When will CBS Retract and Apologize?)
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To: mike182d

Why wasn't this posted in breaking news? It's a week old and posted before.


34 posted on 02/07/2005 7:55:41 AM PST by jwalburg (Those buried included children still clutching toys)
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To: Lunatic Fringe
People need to learn that "evolution" and "creation" can live side by side without conflict.

Thankfully the Church realised that and accepts that, it is only a fringe of the protestant movement which insists on young-earth creationism.
35 posted on 02/07/2005 7:55:42 AM PST by tjwmason (For he himself has said, and it's greatly to his credit, he remains an Englishman.)
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To: John_Wheatley
When you say we see species pop up, we are not meaning over two months we mean over hundreds of thousands or millions of years. In evolutionary terms this is fast. Honestly friend, your anti-intellectualism will destroy your great country.

Let us suppose that a future generation millions of years from now digs up a 1965 Mustang and then a 2005 Mustang. They then go on to deduce, given their limited knowledge of the past, that since the two cars are nearly identical in structure and chemical make-up that one must have come from the other "naturally" by means of "evolution." I think you would write this off as preposterous and rightfully so. The history of species as portrayed by evolution is equally proposterous.

We find animals with similar DNA and structure and then conclude that they must have come from each other. Why?
36 posted on 02/07/2005 7:55:59 AM PST by mike182d
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To: mlc9852

"Do you think all "primates" are equal?"

Did I say that, or even imply it? No. Of course humans are more intelligent than chimps. We're not as strong, however, as gorillas.

We are, however, unmistakably primates. We're also mammals. We're also vertebrates.


37 posted on 02/07/2005 7:56:14 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: tjwmason
young-earth creationism.

Not all creationists are "young-earth" creationists. Straw-man arguments and generalizations are made by both sides of this debate.
38 posted on 02/07/2005 7:57:09 AM PST by mike182d
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To: Mark Felton
But ask yourself, at what point did evolution insert a soul into man?

Obviously at birth since that was what the first Christians believed.

39 posted on 02/07/2005 7:57:13 AM PST by WildTurkey (When will CBS Retract and Apologize?)
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To: trebb
Another instance of a Church changing to suit society

Twaddle. The Church consistently teaches and has taught the doctrine of creation; how God chose to accomplish that is not covered in the clearly allegorical accounts in Genesis.
40 posted on 02/07/2005 7:57:19 AM PST by tjwmason (For he himself has said, and it's greatly to his credit, he remains an Englishman.)
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