The analysis of creation and the distinctions Thomas Aquinas draws among the domains of metaphysics, the natural sciences, and theology can serve an important role in contemporary discussions of the relationship between creation and evolution.
Aquinas would have no difficulty accepting Big Bang cosmology, even with its recent variations, while also affirming the doctrine of creation out of nothing. He would, of course, distinguish between advances in cosmology and the philosophical and theological reflections on these advances.
Please let this be a lesson to any and all who believe that they are not equipped to go up against some of the big names opposing us in our defense of the culture of life: Dont be intimidated.
Claims of Earth's uniqueness have been held up for ridicule ever since Copernicus. Now along come Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee to upset scientific orthodoxy. Earth, they claim, is no run-of-the-mill planet. We are "not so ordinary as Western science has made us out to be . . . . Our global inferiority complex may be unwarranted."
I believe the Holy Father is right when he says that no fundamental conflict can exist between science and religious faith, whatever the appearance to the contrary.
The perceived dangers of genetic research fall into several categories, ranging from the practical to the apocalyptic. At the practical end are issues relating to medical privacy, the insurability of people with genetically identifiable risks for disease, and the use of genetic information to stigmatize or discriminate against individuals or groups.
The trouble with evolution as an account of the way things work is that, if it is wrong, then a Creator must exist. There is no way around it. No wonder atheists are frightened.
In response to the recent Kansas Board of Educations decision not to teach the Theory of Evolution, Michael Behe's New York Times editorial argues that we should teach Darwins elegant theory, but also be willing to discuss where it has real problems accounting for the data and where scientists seem to be engaged in wishful thinking.
The Church has no problem with evolution so long as divine causality is not excluded. In October of 1996, Pope John Paul II delivered a message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences regarding the theory of evolution.
