Teaching evolution at a catholic school

  • Thread starter Thread starter Spanky1975
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
buffalo said:
This accounts for the diversity of life we see. The core makeup shared by all living things have the necessary complex information built in that facilitates rapid and responsive adaptation of features and variation while being able to preserve the “kind” that they began as. Life has been created with the creativity built in ready to respond to triggering events.
Click to expand...
This is just another shot at theistic evolution, a notion that I am already on record as supporting. I’ve repeatedly denounced atheistic, unguided evolution as a concept. This position is even supported somewhat by a recent study that found that most species on Earth can only be traced back to around 200,000 years. There are a few older species, mostly marine animals if I remember correctly, but most niches seem to have been filled very quickly (on a geological time scale.) after a previous mass extinction.

This concept also aligns well with the sudden appearance of life after the Cambrian Explosion, a question which has always been unexplained by atheistic evolution.

What I take issue with is the apparent assertion that it was an instantaneous act. I’m sorry, but the science simply does not support that. The only way for that to be true is if God had chosen to instill a lie in the inherent structure of the Earth through the presence of fossils and geological layers. I guess lie may be too strong a word, but their presence really doesn’t make sense unless they truly existed.
 
Last edited:
ProdglArchitect said:
The only way for that to be true is if God had chosen to instill a lie in the inherent structure of the Earth through the presence of fossils and geological layers. I guess lie may be too strong a word, but their presence really doesn’t make sense unless they truly existed.
Click to expand...
I disagree. God cannot lie. However, He can choose what and when to reveal His creation. If one is walking down the beach and sees two left footprints at the waters edge, should he conclude a deceiver was at work?
 
@Spanky1975

If a student is trying to get into an open debate with the teacher about it with rehearsed ‘gotcha’ questions when the teacher is given a curriculum that they are suppose to teach to their students , then I can understand the teacher citing a student with insubordination if the student kept pushing it and it became a distraction.

I mean there’s all kinds of topics that people can attempt to debate and that might have a place to a certain extent in schools, but the CC has been okay with evolutionary biology for a pretty long time and many Catholics and even Catholic clergy have made various contributions to our understanding of the world.

So you would probably have to homeschool or take the child to a fundamentalist protestant school, and I wouldn’t recommend either of those.
 
Last edited:
buffalo said:
40.png
ProdglArchitect:
The only way for that to be true is if God had chosen to instill a lie in the inherent structure of the Earth through the presence of fossils and geological layers. I guess lie may be too strong a word, but their presence really doesn’t make sense unless they truly existed.
Click to expand...
I disagree. God cannot lie. However, He can choose what and when to reveal His creation. If one is walking down the beach and sees two left footprints at the waters edge, should he conclude a deceiver was at work?
Click to expand...
I think you misunderstand me. I agree that God cannot lie, that is one reason that I have an issue with people who say that dinosaurs never existed. If that was the case then there are only two possible explanations.
  1. God lied about their existence by creating a false fossil record when He spontaneously created the Earth (not to mention lying about the scale of time required, since the geological evidence supports billions of years)
  2. The devil has creative powers, and put them there.
I reject both of these as patently absurd, so I conclude that dinosaurs must have existed.
 
Last edited:
Literal 6 day young earth creationism is not the teaching of the Church as it is not a matter of faith or morals. Catholics schools can teach science
 
I’d ask for a meeting with the school so they can explain this policy. Honestly, I’d be surprised if no questions allowed were the school policy.

This may be a misunderstanding.
 
Spanky1975 said:
My son who is 13 and my nephew who is 14 attend two different private catholic schools. Both of their religion class teachers promote and believe the evolution story instead of God’s 6 day creation. They are not allowed to question the teaching as it shows insubordinate behavior. Is this legit catholic diocese approved teaching or do we have wolves in Shepard’s clothing?
Click to expand...
Take your kid out of that school and put him into one that teaches a literal interpretation of the bible. You know, 6,000 year old planet, world wide food that killed everyone, all the creatures created at the same time etc etc.

That’s the answer you wanted, wasn’t it? I mean, you don’t want them being taught something that directly contradicts your personal understanding of creation.
 
Last edited:
Bill_B_NY said:
It’s not merely on this issue. Once you find atheistic evolution taught unquestioned, take a look, You’ll find more problems under the surface.
Click to expand...
He didn’t say that it was “atheistic evolution” that was being taught. 😉
Bill_B_NY said:
This thread explains the prevalence of atheistic, godless evolution
Click to expand...
That doesn’t mean that this is the worldview being taught.
Spanky1975 said:
The concept that’s difficult to reconcile are the millions of years of evolution seems to put limits on God’s creative power and design.
Click to expand...
Umm… doesn’t saying “it had to have happened in an instant” actually “put limits on God’s creative power and design”?
buffalo said:
Is God limited in his power to create instantaneously?
Click to expand...
Not unless you’re saying “that’s the only way it could have happened”… 😉
Spanky1975 said:
The kids are not allowed to question the teachers explanation of his or her understanding of creation vs evolution because it puts them “on the spot”
Click to expand...
Then that’s a problem of teacher competence. Not of theological error.
Spanky1975 said:
Think about what scripture says about how sin brought death into the world. If there was no death in the world for billions of years could the small earth sustain all of life?
Click to expand...
St Paul’s assertion is that “death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned”. Do animals sin? Of course not! Therefore, the “all” that are being discussed here is “all humans”, not “humans and animals and plants.”
 
So should we as a family change our fundamental beliefs of creation and be more open to a scientific approach?
 
Also by what method do scientist age our earth at 4 billion? Is it based on carbon dating, speed of light, nuclear decay, etc?
 
Spanky1975 said:
Also by what method do scientist age our earth at 4 billion? Is it based on carbon dating, speed of light, nuclear decay, etc?
Click to expand...
You should Google it. Or maybe ask your son. Perhaps he’s already covered that in his geology class.
 
Spanky1975 said:
So should we as a family change our fundamental beliefs of creation and be more open to a scientific approach?
Click to expand...
The two approaches are mutually contradictory. It’s your call. But don’t deny your son a scientific education. He can then make his mind up as to how to reconcile one with the other.
 
He’s learning the science just like I did but questions the monkey to human transition just like I did.
 
Spanky1975 said:
My son who is 13 and my nephew who is 14 attend two different private catholic schools. Both of their religion class teachers promote and believe the evolution story instead of God’s 6 day creation. They are not allowed to question the teaching as it shows insubordinate behavior. Is this legit catholic diocese approved teaching or do we have wolves in Shepard’s clothing?
Click to expand...
Evolution is thermodynamic nonsense. Balls do not jump themselves to mountaintops, and lightning plus some molecules floating in the sea does not accidentally evolve into YOU, a sentient human being with a unique personality, after millions and millions of years.

So why the theory of evolution? Why is it pushed?

Because some people do not want to submit to a Creator-God’s moral dictates. They hate the Ten Commandments, for example. They want to be their own God, creating their own morality…as Nietzsche wished to do (“God is dead”).

Evolution is a substitution creation notion, minus God, and it has dismal implications. For example, it suggests that human beings are mere accidents, lowering human value.

Evolution is actually a very fuzzy concept which flies in the face of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. But, it seems that vain people have seized the reigns of “education” (or indoctrination) for the time being.

Catholic students should learn about the folly and societal consequences of believing in evolution, but they should not buy into it.

I earned an M.D. degree. I had to faithfully regurgitate evolution for years to achieve my goals, or my career would have been “cancelled” early on. Evolution is a component in the religion of progressivism. To question evolution is heresy in the “educational” (indoctrinational) world of academia.

Actually, Darwin’s work “The Origin of the Species” has some merit, in explaining why there are black moths or white moths within the same species (organisms that naturally reproduce with one another). Black moths predominated on the sooty chimneys of London, because they were better camouflaged from predators. This is the theory of natural selection in operation. But “species” are like distal twigs on an evolutionary tree. First KINGDOM then PHYLUM then CLASS then ORDER then FAMILY then GENUS then SPECIES. Darwin’s work is very poor at explaining the origin of life, itself (how everything started). But, it plants that kernel of faith, that evolutionists so need, to avoid God.
 
Last edited:
Spanky1975 said:
He’s learning the science just like I did but questions the monkey to human transition just like I did.
Click to expand...
We can hope that he’ll be taught the correct science and can correct you when you say we evolved from monkeys.

I have to say that I find it difficult to accept the objections of people who denigrate the study of evolution when it is plainly obvious they don’t understand the basics. If you are giving him incorrect information about the process then how is he going to be able to make an educated decision about it?
 
Spanky1975 said:
So should we as a family change our fundamental beliefs of creation and be more open to a scientific approach?
Click to expand...
I suggest to learn as much as possible about creation. Evolution is impossible except for the most minor change. Remember, they are telling us that bacteria evolved into humans. That is absurd. It’s also against the faith. Human beings have a soul which was created directly by God - that is de fide doctrine. If you give that up, you fall into heresy, like a lot of evolutionists have done.
Learn about the power of God - He has created all things. Yes, some small aspects of nature have been modified in time, but there is no way evolution has the power to create the diversity of life on earth, That is God’s work - we should honor Him and give credit,
I urge you not to change belief in God’s creation. You can learn from good creationists sources.
https://aquinas.design/

My name is Father Michael Chaberek. Welcome to my website! I am a Dominican friar, and I hold a doctorate in theology. I developed the content of this website for a twofold purpose:

To show the incompatibility of Thomistic philosophy with theistic evolution.
To show the compatibility of Thomistic philosophy with the theory of intelligent design.
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top