Religion AND Science; Not Religion vs. Science

I ran across another article in Dean’s Corner that discussed science communication along the lines of the Flock of Dodos.  Since we have not discussed that movie much yet, or Randy Olson’s book in general, I don’t have a feel for what the classes’ thoughts are yet.  As for me, I think the evolution vs. creationism vs. intelligent design controversy comes largely from the lack of knowledge.  I know that we have discussed this before; the people that were in the Flock of Dodos movie were mostly extremely well educated so that doesn’t solve all problems.  In the movie when he was interviewing one of the ladies on the school board (in a harassing way in my opinion) he got people’s emotions going because he pointed out the fact that she didn’t know all the details or facts behind the debate.

In the article given by Dr. Toney, he shows his frustration that teachers won’t accept science when it conflicts with religion (with respect to evolution).  The comments are the interesting part.  I have gone to Catholic school for all 12 years of my pre-college education and many of the things that are said in the comments are nothing that I have ever heard before. 

The first comment was: “Christians view Genesis as a literal history of the earth and all its inhabitants. Then when schoolboards demand that students dump that belief to worship an idol (darwin), parents become upset.”

In response, another said, “The bible also says that the world is flat. Is this something you want your children to learn as well? How about the part about slavery being okay? Or the part about stoning your children to death for disobedience?” 

A huge part of the religious community have no idea what they are talking about.  The world of religion obviously needs to be better at communicating science and their agreement with it.  Everywhere I looked online, (legit Catholic websites with reference to church doctrines and teachings) showed no hint of resistance to science.

To prove that strongly opinionated “people of faith” are sadly mistaken by what they think their religion teaches, here is a quote that directly opposes what the first commenter says.  “Pope Pius XII warned us, "What is the literal sense of a passage is not always as obvious in the speeches and writings of the ancient authors of the East, as it is in the works of our own time. For what they wished to express is not to be determined by the rules of grammar and philology alone, nor solely by the context; the interpreter must, as it were, go back wholly in spirit to those remote centuries of the East and with the aid of history, archaeology, ethnology, and other sciences, accurately determine what modes of writing, so to speak, the authors of that ancient period would be likely to use, and in fact did use.”

As the Catechism puts it, "Methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things the of the faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are" (CCC 159). The Catholic Church has no fear of science or scientific discovery.

And

"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)."

So obviously there is a problem.  The church says that we believe in all scientific truth.  It accepts that evolution of the human body is not contradictrary of Christian faith.  So why do most Christians fight it?  I think its because there are so many people that are not informed about the topic.  I don’t know the history of what happened with the stance when Darwin’s theory was first published.  Maybe the initial reaction by non-authoritative figures gave the public the wrong impression.  In my opinion, it is all the fault of communication and lack of education.