|
One
of the most unfortunate results of the popularity of American author Dan Brown's
The
DaVinci Code is that it is not only at times wildly factually
inaccurate. Its portrayal of the Roman Catholic Church as being anti-science is
deplorably false. Sadly, perception is often mistaken for reality, and nowhere
is that more obvious than in the current discussion on the topic of evolution.
Cosmology
and Catholicism
Before
looking at the position of the Catholic Church on human evolution, we should
start with the related question, what does the Church believe about how and when
the universe came into being?
The
Church has declared, as an article of faith (meaning Catholics must accept it as
a matter of dogma), that the universe was specially
created out of nothing by God, that "the world and all things which are
contained in it, both spiritual and material, as regards their whole substance,
have been produced by God from nothing" (First Vatican Council, 1870).
Beyond
that declaration, the Church left to each individual Catholic the choice of how
this happened. If they wish to believe that God did it all at once, or that the
stars, nebulae, and planets developed over time (for example, in the aftermath
of the Big Bang that modern cosmologists discuss), or some place in between,
that is perfectly acceptable. In fact, as we shall see shortly, according to
Catholic belief, the "how" in cosmology is an irrelevant and pointless
question. What is relevant is the role of God. If a Catholic, acting in good
faith and intellectual honesty, truly believed that the stars and planets did
develop over time, this still ultimately must be attributed to God and his plan.
Let
us restate that the means are not as important as the essential truth of God
creating the universe. As a result, and obscured by writers such as Brown, is
the fact that many of today's leading scientists and astronomers are Catholic
priests (the Vatican Observatory is a leading research facility). They are
simply following the long tradition of Catholic clergy (and layman) in the
sciences that included astronomer Nicholas Copernicus and geneticist Gregor
Mendel, among others. The Vatican Observatory even has its own website.
Evolution
and the Bible
On
the subject of biological evolution, the Church does not have any official
position on whether various life forms developed at once or over the course of
time. However, it says that if they did develop over time or all at once, then
they did so under the impetus and guidance of God, and their ultimate creation
must be ascribed to Him.
When
it comes to human evolution, it comes as a surprise to many Catholics, as well
as non-Catholics, to learn how little the Church teaches in this area. This is
because the Church has chosen to define only a few tenets as true beyond doubt,
leaving a great deal of latitude to Catholics for their personal judgment. This
is principally because the Church has not been concerned with evolutionary
questions as such, but rather with their possible implications for Catholic
belief.
The
Church allows for the possibility that man's body developed from previous
biological forms, under God's guidance, but it insists on the special creation
of his soul. The Church insists that
man is not an accident; that no matter how God went about creating Homo
Sapiens, God from all eternity intended that man and all creation exist
in their present form.
The
historical meaning of the first three chapters of Genesis, wrote Pope Pius X in
1909, could not be doubted in regard to "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; the original
happiness of our first parents in the state of justice, integrity, and
immortality; the command given by God to man to test his obedience; the
transgression of the divine command at the instigation of the devil under the
form of a serpent; the degradation of our first parents from that primeval state
of innocence; and the promise of a future redeemer."
Notice
that the Church again 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's spiritual and
immortal soul. In the Church's eyes, Genesis deals with historical fact, not
scientific process — with the what of creation, not the how.
As
long ago as the fifth century, Augustine of Hippo, the church's most revered
ancient theologian, had cautioned Christians not to take the Genesis creation
accounts too literally. So it should not be a surprise that Catholics are not
obliged to reconcile scientific data with the early verses of Genesis, but can
instead view it as containing truths that are expressed in an archaic,
pre-scientific Hebrew idiom. They can also accept with "enjoyment and
confidence" modern scientific discoveries which, more often than not, raise
fundamental questions which science itself cannot answer. Every new discovery is
a source of wonder and a reason for giving praise to God.
 |
|
From the "Creation of
Adam" by Michaelangelo
|
Ironically,
many scientists engaged in evolutionary studies are devout Catholics. These men
and women see no contradiction between what the Church teaches and what science
has learned. In fact, their efforts are lauded in the Catechism
of the Catholic Church (a summary of beliefs and tenets) as follows:
Methodical
research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly
scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the
faith, because the things of the world and the things the of the faith derive
from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of
nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it
is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.
Evolution
Does Not Mean Atheism
While
the Church does not oppose evolution per se, it does not allow belief in
atheistic evolution, nor does it accept the broader implications of
evolutionism. The Church's quarrel with many scientists who call themselves
evolutionists is not about evolution itself, which may (or may not) have
occurred in a non-Darwinian, teleological manner, but rather about the
philosophical materialism that is at the root of so much evolutionary thinking.
Evolutionists argue the word came about without divine action, as a pure
accident.
To
Catholics, the universe is not the result of purely random events that have no
direction and operate without the hand of God. A universe without God is purely
materialistic and secular, this is a position that the church rejects. It does
not oppose evolution, but it opposes the argument that evolution disproves the
existence of God, or makes Him irrelevant.
Catholicism
and Fundamental Protestantism
The
Catholic Church's position clearly contrasts with that of many fundamentalist
Protestant sects. Fundamentalists have usually insisted on treating Genesis as a
scientifically accurate, as well as historically true, account. Unfortunately,
this stance has often appeared in the media as definitive Christian doctrine.
Its details have contrasted so sharply with established scientific knowledge
that "Christian belief" has been held in ridicule.
To
give one example, in the 17th century, Anglican clergyman Bishop James Ussher,
made a calculation based on Biblical genealogies that God created the world on
an October morning in 4004 BCE. Many fundamentalists today hold this as an
article of faith. For virtually all scientists, the figure is absurd. From the
Catholic point of view, Bishop Ussher spoke only for himself, not for the
Church; his feat was one of arithmetic, not theology.
Of
course, Catholics may
share many of these fundamentalist beliefs as their personal opinions. The point
is they are not required
to. With the exception of the few matters mentioned above, Catholics may hold
whatever scientific positions seem reasonable and intellectually convincing, as
long as they accept that everything comes about as the will of God.
Disclaimer:
The article reflects the opinions of the author.
**
David W. Tschanz, PhD, MSPH, MCSE is a demographer, historian, and
computer consultant. A former Jesuit seminarian, he has made a special study of
the role of the Catholic Church in relation to science, particularly cosmology,
and evolution.
|
