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 ...
> a biological mechanism in which one species "naturally" reproduces another species
It's called "mutation."
> the created offspring are reproductions of the original species' DNA.
So you are your mom's clone? Or your dad's? Or are you slightly genetically different from both?
Being accepted does not make it a fact.
> What can we expect evolution to yield in the next 100, 1000, or even 10000 years?
We can expect evolution to produce (from earlier forms) orgamisms suited to deal most effectively with their environments.
> Why bother to believe in a virgin birth?
Because "virgin birth" is an established fact in the animal kingdom. It's called "parthenogenesis."
> Why bother to claim you are a Christian if you don't believe in the miracle of Creation?
I would suspect becuase being a Christian involves things other than believing vague creation myths as literal fact.
> Why limit Him on Creation
That's what a great many Christian evolutionists ask Christian creationists.
Certainly, but in that case, you are dealing directly with science that conflicts with matters of faith and morals, and so the Church would be in a position to put its foot down.
If a creationist came upon a house in the woods, he would say God built it.
Now, I was taught there is no such thing as a dumb question. If you don't want to answer, just say you don't want to answer. I won't be offended.
Who has the Church persecuted because of science?
Jesus said, "At the beginning of creation, God made them male and female." (Mark 10:6) and "Father, I want those youhave given me to ve with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." (John 17:24). Jesus taught that God created the world and everything in in in numerous places in the New Testament. He is God, and He is never wrong. I'll take His Word over bishops and practitioners of the false religion of evolution.
"One speaks of "natural selection," as if nature were an actual, intelligent entity capable of such a feat, while the other acknolwedges an intelligent creator."
Again, your ignorance of the theory of evolution is exposed here. Natural selection doesn't assume any intelligence in the process. It is based on the random process of genetic changes through natural mutations. The ones that are of benefit, or at least not harmful, tend to persist in future generations. The harmful mutations tend not to persist.
Again, you can argue more effectively if you will take the time to understand the theory you're arguing against.
I think you really need to find out what the Church actually has actually said on evolution. The church has NEVER declared the theory of evolution to be fact, it has declared however that it is NOT IN CONFLICT WITH THE FAITH.. which is indeed exactly in the Church's realm.
I don't ready what you are taking from this article, there are giant intellectuals in the faith, and always have been. There are great intellectual arguments for faith, FAR MORE than there are for Atheism. Unfortunately the Church has indeed done a very poor job getting those intellectual arguments out there and articulating them to the masses.
I don't see anything in this article, or in any posting of the Vatican that says the theory of evolution is fact... So if you as a Catholic choose to not believe in the theory of evolution, no one says you can't be a Catholic.
What blows my mind about this whole damn debate is that Charles Darwin himself was Catholic if I am not mistaken... nothing in his theory remotely dismisses the existance of God. The Church itself has never dismissed the theory of evolution as contrary to the faith. And evolution in all things is one of the very much long time accepted evidence that God exists.
The only folks who are jumping ugly over this whole thing are far right fundamentalists and the far left aethiests. So if you think the bible is absolute literal, with no symbolism then you have a problem with evolution in terms of your faiths compatibility with it (which BTW the CATHOLIC faith has NEVER taken the bible as 100% literal, it has always understood there are symbolic and other meanings and not simply the exact word. If you doubt that please go read up on the matter) you have an issue with evolution conflicting with religion.. or if you are die hard aethiest who doesn't believe in God anyway.. you think that Evolution proves there is no God.. of course this is a completely illogical and unreasonable stand... even if you take the theory of evolution at full face value, you cannot get any item, without having a previous item act upon it... if you take this chain back to its beginning you wind up with something from nothing.... and that something is God.
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