Here is the text of a Catholic priest's sermon from Kansas that was posted
on another list I am on. I do not necessarily agree with everything said, but
it shows that evolution is not fully accepted in the Catholic Church, despite
Darwinist propaganda that it is and that the only resistance to evolution
comes from Bible-thumping Protestant fundamentalists.
I particularly like the following:
"Yes indeed, problems with Christian belief generally arise when
"evolution" is loosely used in a broad philosophical sense. This meaning is
substantially different from the scientific one. It may be defined as follows:
"an ideological frame of mind which sees the entire universe in terms of
matter-in-development and which consciously denies the existence of
spiritual or supernatural reality; all phenomena--scientific, historical,
economic, and social--are explainable in exclusively material terms." This
understanding of "evolution" is not scientific, though it derives much
prestige from association with the sciences. It is not founded on
experimental knowledge or rational deduction. It is rather a preconceived
set of attitudes and values, a prejudice that is not merely unscientific, but
irrational."
It seems to me that most (if not all) TE/ECs on this Reflector hold (at least in
part) this "ideological frame of mind" and this is the root cause of their conflict
with their creationist Christian brothers, and indeed with their own Christian
beliefs (Mat 6:24).
Steve
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>Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 19:21:30 EDT
>Subject: A Catholic sermon from Kansas
[...]
Almost two weeks ago we heard here in Kansas a interesting news: it was said
in our newspapers that the Kansas Board of education voted 6 to 4 to let
local school boards decide whether their schools will teach the theory of
evolution. Big title in the Northeast Johnson County Sun, that I receive for
free, "Standing alone on evolution, Kansas now only state without theory in
science standards; governor, other officials criticize decision". That was the
title. I don't know if you feel or not the catastrophic tune of this title!
"Standing alone on evolution, Kansas now only state without theory in science
standards". the hour is grave dear brothers and sisters or at least that's
what they want us to think.
But it is not finished, then they put the picture of the governor of Kansas,
Bill Grave with his words: "this is a tragic, terrible, embarrassing solution
to a problem that did not exist"!
What a pathetic statement dear brothers and sisters! And if there is one
thing that is tragic, terrible, embarrassing, it is the statement of your
governor!.
So I decided to speak about this question of evolution today because to me it
is a very important point that have multiple connection in our society today.
I won't so much try to show you why I don't believe in evolution because that
will be too long, I will just explain today:
a.. what is the teaching of the Church today on evolution,
b.. then what evolutionism means
c.. and finally I will draw some conclusion to all of this
1.. And let us first of all make some distinction here. The question of
evolution can be seen under two major subject: science and philosophy.
As far as the science goes, the teaching of the church is rather simple.
Indeed, it comes as a surprise to many Catholics to learn how little the
church teaches in this area--how few beliefs are established as true beyond
doubt, and therefore how much latitude is left to Catholics for their
personal judgment. The Church has not been concerned with evolutionary
questions as such, but rather with their possible implications for Catholic
belief. The Church has maintained that the first three chapters of Genesis
contain historical truth. Their inspired author used a popular literary form
of his day to explain certain historical facts of Creation which are: "the
creation of all things by God at the beginning of time; the special creation
of man; the formation of the first woman from the first man; the unity of the
human race;" Note that the Church says nothing definite about how, in
specific detail, God created the world and its various forms of life, or how
long any of this took. The only "special creation" mentioned is that of man,
who is unique in having a spiritual immortal soul. In the Church's eyes,
Genesis deals with historical fact, not scientific process.
In 1950, Pope Pius XII addressed the question of man's origins more
specifically in his encyclical Humani Generis that we may summarize as
follows:
a.. The question of the origin of man's body from pre- existing and living
matter is a legitimate matter of inquiry for natural science. Catholics are
free to form their own opinions, but they should do so cautiously; they
should not confuse fact with conjecture, and they should respect the Church's
right to define matters touching on Revelation.
b.. Catholics must believe, however, that the human soul was created
immediately by God. Since the soul is a spiritual substance it is not brought
into being through transformation of matter, but directly by God, whence the
special uniqueness of each person.
c.. All men have descended from an individual, Adam, who has transmitted
original sin to all mankind. Catholics may not, therefore, believe in
"polygenism," the scientific hypothesis that mankind descended from a group
of original humans.
So, from the Catholic point of view, the scientific questions of evolution
are largely left open to debate. Evolutionary hypotheses which attempt to
explain the development of living things may be accepted except where they
conflict with these few explicit truths.
More recently our Holy Father pope John Paul II, in October 1996 declared:
" Today, almost half a century after the publication of the encyclical, new
knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than
a hypothesis."
This statement has been transform by the media into an official recognition
by the catholic Church of the truth concerning evolution. But it is not. And
they should have read the entire document before making a judgement.And in
fact our actual pope is doing the same thing that Pius the XII did with
Humani Generis, who said that the discussion and divers opinion are
legitimate concerning evolution as long as God remain the creator of all
things, and that the human soul is specially created by God and infuse into
the human body.That's the teaching of the Church concerning evolution.
1.. But then there is a second part to this question, and that's when from
evolution we go to evolutionism. Yes indeed, problems with Christian belief
generally arise when "evolution" is loosely used in a broad philosophical
sense. This meaning is substantially different from the scientific one. It
may be defined as follows: "an ideological frame of mind which sees the
entire universe in terms of matter-in-development and which consciously
denies the existence of spiritual or supernatural reality; all
phenomena--scientific, historical, economic, and social--are explainable in
exclusively material terms." This understanding of "evolution" is not
scientific, though it derives much prestige from association with the
sciences. It is not founded on experimental knowledge or rational deduction.
It is rather a preconceived set of attitudes and values, a prejudice that is
not merely unscientific, but irrational. For it is altogether credulous to
hold that complex organs like the eye are not indicative of an ordering
intelligence, but are instead the result of blind chance which of course
cannot know or plan the end (seeing) to which the eye's single parts combine
and evolve...
Inasmuch as it is really an outlook on life, it is a kind of religion.
Properly speaking, therefore, this set of beliefs should not be called
"evolution" but rather "evolutionism". To subscribe to creation that is, the
contingent world's ultimate dependence on a necessary, creative being, is
not, on the contrary, an act of religion at all. It is a matter of
philosophy, of drawing sure conclusions from incontrovertible premises. Now
when someone like our governor declares that to not teach exclusively
evolution in our school is a tragic, terrible, embarrassing solution. We see
perfectly that we are not any more in the domain of science open to fact but
we are in the domain of the dogma of evolutionism. And that's very dangerous.
Even if he just mention the word "evolution"... What he meant in fact was
evolutionism. And it is embarrassing for him because it goes against the
freemason one world government that have as one of his goal to organize the
world without God, and even to explain the world without God, and that's when
evolution come into the picture!
But even if we don't speak of evolutionism, just evolution appears more and
more as a dead theory! A long succession of famous scientists could be quoted
whom, in effect, accepted evolution not for scientific reasons but, as it
were, for theological reasons. One of them, Professor Watson, later informed
a body of scientists at Cape Town that "evolution itself is accepted by
zoologists not because it has been observed to occur or can be proven by
logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative,
special creation, is clearly incredible." In other word they don't want to
believe in the creation of the world by a supreme being that going to rule
them, therefore they decided to believe in evolution.
In fact let me quote professor Paul Lemoine, a former Director of the
National Museum of Natural History at Paris, who has written "The theories of
evolution in which our student youth was cradled constitute a dogma which all
the world continues to teach, but each in his own specialty, zoologist or
botanist, comes to the conclusion that none of the available explanations is
adequate.... The result of this summary is that the theory of evolution is
impossible.... One must have the courage to say this so that future
generations may direct their researches in another direction."
2.. Well let me give you now some direction for your own life. Here we deal
with a true religion: evolutionism. This movement, or religion is very
spread. And if you try to not worship according to its creed, they will tell
you that this is a tragic, terrible, embarrassing solution to a problem that
did not exist!
What they want here it is to give us an explanation of the world without God.
Everything has appeared by some kind of natural miracle. They call it the Big
bang (but what created the big bang they don't answer to that). And then
everything is in a perpetual state of change, evolution and perfection.
Physically speaking, we know what that means. And I have said that some type
of evolution can work with our catholic faith. But when this principle of
evolution is applied to all phenomena--scientific, historical, economic, and
social- and that's what evolutionism is about, then there are some grave
consequences. Because if you believe, consciously or unconsciously to this
religion call evolutionism, then you cannot hold to any truth at all.
Everything is changing, moving, there is no truth because what is right and
true today tomorrow will be wrong and false. Everything evolves, and you just
need to catch up with the new generation. And since we don't receive any kind
of revelation because God does not exist, then everything comes from us.
Everything is a fruit of our reflection. But that's very dangerous and
prideful too. And the history of mankind had shown us how crazy and insane a
situation can become when men are left to their own judgement and feelings!
Think of Hitler.And beside, in this system of thought, the humanity is always
becoming better, that's also one of the principle of evolutionism, so if you
want a better society, destroy this one because tomorrow is always going to
be better. That's actually a revolutionary and communist principle.
I must conclude now. And I want to warn you against those philosophies that
try to explain the world without God. They are dead philosophy and they carry
death. We may agree on a certain degree of evolution among each major
species, because God ordinarily carries out His creative acts in natural
ways. But then the philosophy of evolutionism is a dead and dangerous
philosophy that need to be condemn, and you should be aware of it because it
is every where. Our own personal life often function on evolutionist
principle: when we think that the truth can change, that morale comportment
that were wrong 50 years ago, now are OK.Or when we think that we need to go
along with the modern world because anyway change always bring improvement
and better life.
Finally, it is Pius the XII who will have the last words. He warn the teacher
in Humani Generis saying:
"With regard to new questions, which modern culture and progress have brought
to the foreground, let them engage in most careful research, but with the
necessary prudence and caution; finally, let them not think, indulging in a
false "irenism," that the dissident and erring can happily be brought back to
the bosom of the Church, if the whole truth found in the Church is not
sincerely taught to all without corruption or diminution."
[..]
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"I have come to the conclusion that Darwinism is not a testable scientific
theory, but a metaphysical research programme-a possible framework for
testable scientific theories." (Popper K.R., "Unended Quest: An Intellectual
Autobiography", [1974], Open Court: La Salle, Ill., Revised Edition, 1982,
p168)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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