Catholicism and evolution: Are they contradictory?

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | May 9, 2011 | Faye Flam

[Alex Murphy]

On Easter, Pope Benedict XVI spoke out against both creationism and evolution, or so it looked anyway.

About the biblical account of Genesis, he said, "It is not information about the external processes by which the cosmos and man himself came into being." So much for literal creationism.

But then he seemed to take a swipe at science, proposing that mankind cannot be just another product of evolution.

"It is not the case that in the expanding universe, at a late stage, in some tiny corner of the cosmos, there evolved randomly some species of living being capable of reasoning and of trying to find rationality within creation, or to bring rationality into it."

Many biologists beg to differ: Evolution isn't completely random, they say, and neither is it geared to produce humans.

The pope's words raise the question: Are Catholicism and evolution in conflict?

Several prominent Catholic scientists said their religion was perfectly compatible with science, and the only apparent problem in the homily came from the way the pope mischaracterized evolution as random. Far from being haphazard, natural selection imposes order on the natural world, as do the laws of physics and chemistry.

If the pope knew biology as well as he does theology, he'd be well within scientific consensus, said Brown University biologist Ken Miller, who is Catholic. "The pope needs a science adviser."

Others say statements in the homily reflect a long-standing schism between science and the Catholic faith.

Catholicism let go of the idea that the Earth is the center of the universe and accepts that evolution happened, but it still views mankind as having a special place in the cosmos, shaped partly by evolution and partly by the divine endowment of a soul. The Catholic scientists also see mankind - or some rational being - as part of the purpose of evolution.

Catholics "cannot accept evolution as we scientists accept it - as an unguided, materialistic process with no goal or direction," said University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne, who writes about science and religion in his blog, "Why Evolution Is True."

All agree there is order and majesty in nature. But they disagree over how it got here.

Many religious people see life as a symphony, all the notes carefully written by a divine composer. Nonreligious scientists see it more as an improvisational riff - or a comedy improv - with creativity emerging organically from within, free of any outside scriptwriter.

And like any improv act, chance comes into play. The late paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote that if the clock were wound back to the age of the dinosaurs and evolution was again allowed to take its course, the process would lead to a completely different mix of living things - a mix unlikely to include us.

Some Catholic scientists, such as University of Pennsylvania paleontologist Peter Dodson, say Gould may be right. "Perhaps we'd get intelligent penguins" the second time around, he said.

Dodson points out that the previous pope, John Paul II, was clear that when talking about the human body, we should listen to science. Catholicism, he said, deals more with the spiritual part of man's existence.

Or, as Brown's Miller puts it, "What makes us truly special is our ability to reason."

Miller acted as an expert witness for those opposing the teaching of creationism in the famous 2005 Dover, Pa. trial. There, the form of creationism at stake wasn't a literal interpretation of the Adam and Eve story, but so-called Intelligent Design (ID).

ID proponents concede that evolution happened but argue that certain biological structures are too complex to have arisen without the intervention of an "intelligent designer." One often-cited such example is the flagellum - a taillike projection that certain bacteria use to propel themselves.

Miller says he rejects the ID position because it makes erroneous claims about biology. Evolution, he said, explains many of the structures that ID theory cites as proof of a "designer's" intervention," including the flagellum.

And in Catholicism, he said, God wouldn't micromanage that way. "Surely he can set things up without having to violate his own laws."

In Miller's view, God created the whole process of evolution. "We're here because a creator God created a universe in which it was possible for beings like us to arise."

Miller and other Catholic scientists say that even though they believe we were created by a creator, they are not creationists - a term they reserve for the official Intelligent Design movement and biblical literalism.

Others aren't so sure.

"I think that [Pope] Benedict was trying to find, like so many other religious people, a middle ground between creationism and evolution," said Scott Gilbert, a biologist at Swarthmore College.

[Alex Murphy]

Catholicism let go of the idea that the Earth is the center of the universe and accepts that evolution happened, but it still views mankind as having a special place in the cosmos, shaped partly by evolution and partly by the divine endowment of a soul. The Catholic scientists also see mankind - or some rational being - as part of the purpose of evolution.

Catholics "cannot accept evolution as we scientists accept it - as an unguided, materialistic process with no goal or direction," said University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne, who writes about science and religion in his blog, "Why Evolution Is True." All agree there is order and majesty in nature. But they disagree over how it got here....

....The late paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote that if the clock were wound back to the age of the dinosaurs and evolution was again allowed to take its course, the process would lead to a completely different mix of living things - a mix unlikely to include us. Some Catholic scientists, such as University of Pennsylvania paleontologist Peter Dodson, say Gould may be right.

"Perhaps we'd get intelligent penguins" the second time around, he said.

[Alex Murphy]

Related threads:
Pope: Humanity isn't random product of evolution
God was behind Big Bang, universe no accident: Pope
Pope praises science, but insists God created world
The Problem of Polygenism in Accepting the Theory of Evolution [Catholic Msgr. Charles Pope]
Radio Replies Second Volume - Creation and Evolution
A meeting of religion and science: Sister Frances Zajac sees no conflict in her callings
Atheist says that Church accepts darwinism [Catholic Caucus]
Let Science Be Science and Faith Be Faith
Creationists, Intelligent Design Advocates Blast Vatican for Not Inviting Them to Evo Conference
Catholics on Evolution (Ecumenical)
Vatican evolution congress to exclude creationism, intelligent design
Catholic universities plan scientific examination of evolutionary theory
God made pre-humans into people, Vatican newspaper says [Open]
How a Catholic priest gave us the Big Bang Theory
Evangelicals should follow Catholic example on evolution
Austrian cardinal says Darwinism should be studied as science
The Sense that it is True that Six-Day Creationism is Paganism
Creationist Defends Bible-Based Science Against Vatican Astronomer's Criticism
Vatican Paper Hits 'Intelligent Design'

[RockinRight]

Evolution occurred at the hand of God. Starting billions of years ago.

Flame away.

[mockingbyrd]

Why not?

It’s God. He can do whatever He wants however He wants. That’s what’s important. Recognizing the hand of the Creator. How He created everything? Well that’s just a fun study for humanity.

[campaignPete R-CT]

glad I got drawn away from the genetics world into physics, et al. Too many of these folks come off sounding like fruitcakes.

[Sherman Logan]

Catholics "cannot accept evolution as we scientists accept it - as an unguided, materialistic process with no goal or direction,"

This is a truly silly statement.

True science deals only with the results obtained. We exit the realm of science when we proclaim there was or was not a goal or direction.

Science just doesn't have anything to say about this. All science can say is that we don't SEE evidence of goal or direction. But any true scientist will agree that "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

[Sherman Logan]

Catholicism let go of the idea that the Earth is the center of the universe

Actually, this is not a scientific fact.

Physically, scientists contend the universe has no center. So saying the earth is the physical center is no more or less accurate than assigning the center to any other location.

Science has nothing at all to say about whether the earth is "the center of the universe" in a moral, spiritual or importance sense. If the Son of God came here and died for mankind, and potentially for all intelligent beings, then it would be the center of the universe in all these senses.

[dangus]

The Inquirer plays “Fun With Deliberate Misquotes!”

[Natural Law]

Evolution is a description of the process which God used to introduce life into a dynamic environment. No where does the Church suggest any support for abiogenesis.

[OldNavyVet]

Ken Miller, a prominent cell biologist at Brown University, is a devout Roman Catholic yet firmly believes in evolution.

In the scientific world, beliefs belong in church.

Words mean things.

[verity]

I concur.

[redgolum]

So where does that leave in the Incarnation? Think about it before you flame.

[Claud]

I'm not so sure abiogenesis per se has been ruled out.

Augustine dealt with abiogenesis in one of his works (on the Literal Interpretation of Genesis maybe?), on the question of when flies & maggots were created.

Since they were, by the science of the day, considered to be spontaneously generated by rotting meat, he argued that they may well not have been created actually during the first six days but only created potentially. So during Creation, God created the properties in meat such that when it would rot, maggots would spontaneously form in it.

Granted the faulty scientific premise, his argument is still important theologically.

[DManA]

God chooses to use the natural processes HE CREATED to run and regulate His world mostly (Once in a while He bypasses this in what we call a miracle ). He gave us intelligence to understand these processes.

Evolution is an attempt to understand these processes. We have a crude understanding of it at this time. There is much we don’t understand.

That’s how I interpret Genesis.

[DManA]

The definition of a miracle is God bypassing His natural processes for His own purposes. The Incarnation was indisputably a miracle. Other examples we view in a mirror darkly.

[Claud]

I’m not even sure that Catholics ever meant “Earth was the center of the Universe” in the way some people think they meant it.

Heck, Dante put the Earth at the physical center, yes, but then Hell and Satan at the center of Earth. So technically, Satan was the physical center of the Universe.

Dante also says in Paradiso that it is only to our physical eyes that earth is the center. If we look with spiritual eyes, and of course the medieval believed the spiritual more real than the physical, it was *God* who was the center, and earth at the periphery—the cosmology literally turned inside out.

[allmendream]

Prov 16:33 The dice are cast into the lap, but every result is from the Lord.

Atomic decays cannot be predicted and appear to obey a random disintegration frequency.

Mutations cannot be predicted and appear to obey a random distribution pattern (with some mutations being more frequent than others due to mechanistic factors).

A dice roll cannot be predicted and appears to obey a random distribution pattern.

Knowing this it seems strange to me that evolution is always attributed to be “random and thus Godless” - yet nobody seems to claim the same for Physics or games of chance at the Casino. I.O.W. I have yet to hear someone opine that God's power stops at the Casino door.

So why the big bugaboo about randomness only in regard to biological evolution but not anywhere else?

[RobbyS]

We could do with a lot of Mother Angelicas, in or out of penguin suit.;-)

What the above does not take into account the party line of the Evolutionists since the beginning, which is 1) human beings are simply intelligent animals and 2) that our lives are meaningless excerpt as they contribute to our survival, and no even our individual lives but the species, and that evenb the species does not deserve the high respect that tradition gives to it. Beasts do not covenant with the Lord; if there is a “higher power,” then we are but slaves to it.

[plain talk]

Nothing silly about it all if you expect priests to accept creation as an unguided materialistic process you can forget it. The two fields coexist. Scientists have their head down in the weeds methodically looking at things they can deal with and religious folks look at the bigger picture that includes the spiritual realm.