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Thank you, StJaques, for such an exquisite posting. In all the years I've read, and occasionally posted to, the crevo threads, nothing I've encountered up to this point describes the context of science and religion as well as your post has. It is brilliantly succint, sincere and genuinely reflects a deep understanding of both science and the Christian faith that value each without expense to the other. Thank you. P.S. You must have been taught by Jesuits!

". . . P.S. You must have been taught by Jesuits!"

Well you're on the right track, though it would not be correct to say that I was "taught by Jesuits," so much as it would be to say that I was "influenced by Jesuits."

It would be long story for me to tell it all but let me just say that when I was attending what was then called the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) I developed a close association with a number of Jesuits and Franciscans at St. Charles College, a Jesuit seminary located about 20 miles north of Lafayette, and I would join them informally on numerous occasions, and especially for seminars and discussions they would have on Latin America, as I had lived in both Colombia and Mexico. And not all too infrequently we would get together at a local restaurant or a Saturday barbeque at someone's home and enjoy wide-ranging discussions. I honestly cannot say that I ever discussed the Theory of Evolution with them, my own personal "long-term project" if I can call it that, was Catholic Theology and St. Augustine's writings on the "Just War," a topic I loved to discuss because I noticed it made priests nervous, which almost amounted to mischief on my part. But I was always very impressed with the educational background so many of these priests -- and a number of nuns as well -- had in their personal resumés. There were Ph.Ds and others with graduate degrees from such wide-ranging fields as Philosophy, Psychology, Archaeology, Physics, and even Microbiology among them and; across the wide spectrum of their number, from universities such as Georgetown, Villanova, Notre Dame, Princeton, and more. Needless to say, it was a very intelligent group. But it did make a lasting impression upon me of the intellectual side of Roman Catholicism that has stuck with me to this very day. I lost touch with them all went I left to go to Graduate School at Texas A&M and I never renewed that association, I am sad to say.