Faith and Science

A few weeks ago, I was in a car with some friends of a friend and somehow the issue of evolution came up. One of the people in the car was an agnostic and found it strange that I, as a professing Catholic, noted that I had no problem with the concept of evolution. As I put it, I believe in evolution, but really believe in the Creed.

I believe that as Catholics, we must be careful in finding the way to accept both faith and reason. The Catechism instructs us that science does not override morality, and it cannot conflict with our faith.

So going back to evolution, my non-Catholic friends, and many of my Catholic ones for that matter, are surprised when they learn that the Church has never taken a stand against evolution. And while the Pope unfortunately got himself briefly enmeshed into the "Intelligent Design" controversy about a year ago (mostly I think because he did not really understand how that term has become very loaded in the United States), the Church has tried to stay clear of the controversy.

The story of faith, the message of Christ is that of salvation. It is a message that each of us, no matter how humble, have worth before God. By arguing how long God contemplated the blueprints for the earthworm, we reduce God's message and we turn our back on what was truly important. By turning the Bible into a science book, we in effect reduce God and probably commit the fallacy of Deism.