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The Catholic Church has however been rather reasonable over the subject saying:
'Concerning human evolution, the Church has a more definite teaching. It 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. Pope Pius XII declared that "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 . . . 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—[but] the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God" (Pius XII, Humani Generis 36)'
Whilst this is obviously not something to which I would subscribe, it does at least allow for what we have learnt from the biological sciences to not be flatly and unreasonably denied.
Unfortunately, from reading the Preposterous Universe blog I've learnt that the Cardinal of Vienna, Christoph Schönberg, seems to want to encourage so called intelligent design as an alternative.
Some of his words are frankly scary.
'Any system of thought that denies or seeks to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design in biology is ideology, not science.'
This is so wrong in so many places I don't even know where to begin. First the theory of evolution isn't a 'system of thought', it doesn't seek to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design' - it seeks to explain the variety of life we see and does so simply and brilliantly, and there is no overwhelming evidence for design. In fact, there are many examples of biological forms with such befuddlingly stupid 'design' that one almost starts to wonder where we got this impression from in the first place.
The New York Times also has a follow-up story which provides some useful insights.
Pharyngula also has some useful insights. Most notably he says 'The Pope could decree that the sky was lavender with puce highlights, but it wouldn't change the observable fact of its actual color.'.
Pharyngula also links to 18 minute gap, a Catholic who is quite comfortable calling the Cardinal mind-bogglingly stupid. A term which, I think, sums up a blind refusal of evolution quite nicely.
This spread of creationist thought beyond certain parts of the States and to parts of such a large church is a big cause of concern. I hope this country's overall resilience to it so far continues.
July 19 2005, 16:51:13 UTC 6 years ago
I'm hoping so, though when we're living in a country where a multi-millionaire car dealer like Peter Vardy can get permission to open a chain of creationist schools then something's rotten in the state of
DenmarkWestminster. It doesn't help matters that Ruth Kelly is aligned with Opus Dei either.July 19 2005, 16:58:18 UTC 6 years ago
Fortunately they do teach the National Curriculum and therefore must be taught evolution, even if they are taught to consider alternatives outside the science lessons. Not ideal, but it is something we can be grateful for.
Ruth Kelly's alignment with Opus Dei is a cause for concern. Maybe I'll have to have a rant on that in the coming days.
August 9 2005, 07:01:09 UTC 6 years ago
So they claim . . . but unlike other state schools, Academies aren't legally bound to teach the national curriculum. Generally they choose to teach most of it, but there are usually deviations or non-standard interpretations.
August 9 2005, 06:55:49 UTC 6 years ago