From The Archbishop's Desk
From The Archbishop's Desk |
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Creationism Fuss |
The recent court case in Arkansas about creationism raises many questions about the Bible and science. For a Catholic this entire question can be quite interesting and educational.
CREATIONISM has been presented as a scientific theory, based on the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Creationism maintains that the universe was created by God in six days, and that this happened approximately 6,000 years ago. Creationism is based on a literal, fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible.
THE ARKANSAS legislature passed a law that the theory of creationism must be taught, as well as the theory of evolution, in science classes dealing with the origin of the universe and of human beings. The Governor signed the bill. Last week a U.S. District Court judge ruled that creationism is actually a fundamentalist religious teaching and nullified the law.
AS A CATHOLIC, I am delighted with this judicial decision. It is of interest that the area Catholic bishop and the American Civil Liberties Union joined forces in attacking the obligatory teaching of creationism in the state's public schools,
BECAUSE creationism is so different from the Catholic teaching on interpreting the Book of Genesis, to have Catholic children taught this doctrine would be unconscionable.
LET ME EXPLAIN what the Church teaches about the Book of Genesis and also about the theory of evolution.
THE CHURCH warns against fundamentalism - that is, interpreting the Bible as literally true. The Church teaches that the Bible is true, but not necessarily literally true. The Bible presents truth through various literary forms or ways of expressing its true teaching.
GENESIS gives two different narratives about the origin of human beings. The older narrative starts at Chapter 2, verse 4, and pictures God as shaping the first man from clay, breathing into it a human soul and taking the first woman from the side of Adam. The later story, Chapter 1, is a drama presented in six acts or days. God is shown as working and creating something on each of the six days, creating man and woman as the climax of creation and then resting on the seventh day.
THIS IS seemingly an artificial way of teaching us humans to work on six days and rest on the seventh. We are to read Genesis for the religious lessons it teaches, and not as a scientific account. The Bible is not a science book, is not interested in science and should not be read as if it were a scientific book. We go to the Bible for religion. We go to scientific studies to learn about the natural sciences.
MAY A CATHOLIC believe in evolution? To that question I would answer yes. Evolution is a theory that all living things have developed from a few simple forms of life through a gradual process of descent. Charles Darwin, who died in 1882, studied the small differences in species on various islands of the Galapagos Archipelago. Darwin wrote The Origin of Species in 1859 and The Descent of Man in 1871.
I SEE no problem at all in a believing Christian who accepts the theory of evolution, who considers God's grand plan of creation as including a marvelous gradual development to more complicated living beings, climaxing in man and woman as the first rational human beings infused by God with a rational, human soul. Evolution can show forth the wisdom and power of God even more than creationism.
THAT SAID, I admit to problems in fully accepting evolution. My limited reading indicates no evidence of any evolutionary jump from one major species to another. The only signs of change are when a species became extinct or an organ ceased to be used. The mummies and statues of ancient Egypt show no evolution over the past 5,000 years. But my point here is basically that objections to evolution should come from science and not from religion.
WE ARE GRATEFUL to scientists who find indications of human life on this planet from millions of year ago. We applaud astronomers who admit that the entire universe must have had a specific beginning in time, about 20 billion years ago.
GOD CREATED man and woman, either directly or after a long process of evolution. Original sin entered the story. Then, wonder of wonders, God sent Jesus Christ to re-create us in grace, to bring us to eternal life.
Most Reverend John F. Whealon
late Archbishop of Hartford
January 16, 1982
The Catholic Transcript, page 6