What is your response on Evolution

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pathway2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Pathway2

Guest
What is the church’s stance; how does it theologically affect us Christians?
 
Evolution is a theory within the domain of science. The church thus has no “official” position on the matter, as the church’s domain is strictly matters of faith and morals.

Science can only describe what is observed. Any “scientific” claim about God or faith is invalid, because God cannot be physically observed. (Even a miracle is considered only something science cannot explain - it is a matter of faith, thus a matter for the church to evaluate).

Evolution can only be evaluated on it’s merits at describing elements of the physical world. As long as it is not incorrectly used to justify matters of morality, the church has no comment.
 
Last edited:
A Catholic is free to believe in Creationism or evolutionism, and in fact a fairly wide array of things regarding origins, but you must believe it is by God, and that Eve and Adam are our common parents in humanity.
 
That is a bit of an overstatement. The church does not oblige a Catholic to accept any scientific theory as a matter of faith.

A Catholic is expected to be educated and develop a sound use of reason. A Catholic would be expected to use that sense of reason to discern the merits of any scientific theory. If a Catholic found Creationism reasonable, the Catholic could accept any portion of the theory that did not contradict a Catholic teaching on faith or morals.

The deposit of faith simply does not cover the exact origins of the Earth, thus a Catholic is not obliged to subscribe to a particular theory. The Catholic is not free to select an arbitrary theory, however, but only one that is consistent with the god-given gift of reason.
 
Last edited:
The Encyclical “Humani Generis” explains briefly that it is okay to believe in a form of evolution as long as we understand that in God’s timing a soul was infused into a man and woman. I believe that explanation appears approximately in #37, 38 in that encyclical.
 
Not true. The Church has commented on the theory and there have been a number of threads here about it.
 
Humani Generis

"36. For these reasons 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, on the part of men experienced in both fields, 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 - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God. However, this must be done in such a way that the reasons for both opinions, that is, those favorable and those unfavorable to evolution, be weighed and judged with the necessary seriousness, moderation and measure, and provided that all are prepared to submit to the judgment of the Church, to whom Christ has given the mission of interpreting authentically the Sacred Scriptures and of defending the dogmas of faith.[11] Some however, rashly transgress this liberty of discussion, when they act as if the origin of the human body from pre-existing and living matter were already completely certain and proved by the facts which have been discovered up to now and by reasoning on those facts, and as if there were nothing in the sources of divine revelation which demands the greatest moderation and caution in this question.

“37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.[12]”
 
If I may contribute to the topic, there are two catholic theologians that reconcile Christianity with the theory of evolution: the jesuits Teilhard de Chardin (The Phenomenon of Man, 1955) and Karl Rahner (Homanisation, 1958). The former has been also praised for his scientific contribution by his atheist friend, the evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley. In addition, a major contribution to the evolutionary theory itself has come from the work of the augustinian friar Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) in the field of molecular biology.
 
  1. Fundamentalism l, (the idea that everything said in the Bible is a scientific fact) seems to have emerged in the 1800s as I understand it.
  2. Darwin left his Christian faith not due to the theory of evolution so much as the death of his 9 year old daughter Annie.
  3. Darwin’s great, great, great granddaughter is a Catholic and debates on this topic.
  4. St Augustine in roughly 400ad around the time the Bible was bound together said in 'the confessions of st Augustine’s that he did not believe the world was made in 7 days, that the Genesis story was trying to explain truth but not in a scientific way. I think this proves the long history of Catholics not viewing the Bible as a scientific fundamentalist way.
 
I think religion and science are trying to tell the same story but in a different way. But do I believe in evolution? No.
 
edwest211 said:
Not true. The Church has commented on the theory and there have been a number of threads here about it.
Click to expand...
edwest211 said:
Humani Generis

"36. For these reasons the Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that,
Click to expand...
We are making the same point that the church does “not forbid” nor affirmatively teach any particular origin theory of world that does not contradict revealed doctrine.
 
There are certain limitations the Church does make. Everything was created by God. Adam and Eve were two literal people. They freely disobeyed one command, resulting in a spiritual Original Sin and damage to the created world. This integration of faith and science is the whole answer. Science, I know, is limited, but the full answer must be presented. Man is not just a product of events. He was willed.
 
The Church has defended itself against evolution since its founding.

There are 4 extensive threads on this and you can see the issues there.

My response is

http://www.idvolution.org
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top