Pope defends theistic evolutionPDFPrintE-mail
Europe
Written by Chris Perver  
Tuesday, 10 April 2007 17:00
Pope Ratzinger has defended his beliefs in theistic evolution in an article in a German book called "Creation and Evolution" today. The Catholic church has so far refused to be drawn into the Creation-Evolution debate, preferring instead to praise scientific achievement while maintaining that "science" cannot answer all our questions on origins. Theistic evolution is the belief that God used the process of evolution to create the world.

Quote: ""Intelligent design" (ID) argues that some forms of life are too complex to have evolved randomly, as Charles Darwin proposed in his 1859 book "The Origin of Species." It says a higher intelligence must have done this but does not name it as God. Scientists denounce this as a disguised form of creationism, the view that God created the world just as the Bible says. US courts have ruled both creationism and ID are religious views that cannot be taught in public school science classes there. In the book, Benedict defended what is known as "theistic evolution," the view held by Roman Catholic, Orthodox and mainline Protestant churches that God created life through evolution and religion and science need not clash over this. "I would not depend on faith alone to explain the whole picture," he remarked during the discussion held at the papal summer palace in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.

Even the author of this secular article seems to understand that the Bible teaches God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. And the Pope, in all his wisdom and Scriptural knowledge, chooses to believe that God used a process of death, disease and decay to produce something He called "very good"? The event mentioned in the above article refers to the US Judge John E. Jones' ruling in December 2005, that schools in Dover District, Pennsylvania could not recite a disclaimer to pupils attending classes that taught the theory of evolution. The Judge slammed the attempt to bring Intelligent Design into the National Curriculum as promotion of religion and a violation of the separation between Church and State. 

Quote: "But the judge said: "We find that the secular purposes claimed by the board amount to a pretext for the board's real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom." The disclaimer, he said, "singles out the theory of evolution for special treatment, misrepresents its status in the scientific community, causes students to doubt its validity without scientific justification, presents students with a religious alternative masquerading as a scientific theory, directs them to consult a creationist text as though it were a science resource and instructs students to forgo scientific inquiry in the public school classroom and instead to seek out religious instruction elsewhere."

Ironically, I agree with what the Judge states. You cannot divorce the Creator from His creation. If you teach that the universe was created by a God, then the next logical question is, Who is that God and why has He created us? That's what the Bible states - the heavens declare the glory of God. If they didn't, they wouldn't be doing the job God had intended for them to do. But we must ask another question. If Intelligent Design is true - and there is much more evidence for Intelligent Design than there is for evolution, then where does this place the separation of Church and State? If true science points to the existence of a Creator, and it is not permissible to teach that there is a Creator, will Judges prohibit the teaching of science? That is the next logical step.

Psalm 19:1-3
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. [There is] no speech nor language, [where] their voice is not heard.

Source IOL, MSNBC

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