Tell Me Again How Catholics Are In The Fundamentalist Dark Ages

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Tell Me Again How Catholics Are In The Fundamentalist Dark Ages

January 19, 2006 by J. Philip Faranda

…on Intelligent Design in science class and I’ll tell you how wrong you are. I, like most Catholics and unlike the Pat Robertsons of the world, have insisted that ID has no place in science class. If you want to teach it, teach it at home or in Sunday school, because it isn’t science. The Vatican agrees with me.

The official Vatican newspaper published an article this week labeling as "correct" the recent decision by a judge in Pennsylvania that intelligent design should not be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution.

"If the model proposed by Darwin is not considered sufficient, one should search for another," Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, wrote in the Jan. 16-17 edition of the paper, L’Osservatore Romano.

"But it is not correct from a methodological point of view to stray from the field of science while pretending to do science," he wrote, calling intelligent design unscientific. "It only creates confusion between the scientific plane and those that are philosophical or religious."

The article was not presented as an official church position. But in the subtle and purposely ambiguous world of the Vatican, the comments seemed notable, given their strength on a delicate question much debated under the new pope, Benedict XVI.

Advocates for teaching evolution hailed the article. "He is emphasizing that there is no need to see a contradiction between Catholic teachings and evolution," said Dr. Francisco J. Ayala, professor of biology at the University of California, Irvine, and a former Dominican priest. "Good for him."

As with the recent statement on gays in the priesthood, this is not official Canon law and there will be debate, but as the article says, it is certainly an accurate representation of the Vatican position on the matter. There is plenty to be critical of Church leadership of in recent years, but the intellectually dishonest canard of Intelligent Design in science class isn’t one of them.

Posted in Catholicism, Education | 5 Comments

5 Responses

on January 19, 2006 at 8:50 am | Reply Dave

Who has said that Catholics advocate ID? It has primarily been proposed by evangelicals and other protestant organizations.
on January 19, 2006 at 4:14 pm | Reply Andrew

Indeed, there is no reason at all for Catholics to be defensive on this issue. Ever since the days of Thomas Aquinas, Rome has been either at the forefront of scientific learning, or not far behind. Some Protestant evangelicals are WAY behind. For months I hammered away on the evolution issue, taking on the dogmatists on both sides (who depend on each other, ironically), but I think the matter has been resolved, for all but a few wacko holdouts.
on January 19, 2006 at 4:19 pm | Reply Dave

Well, Andrew’s comment stretches the truth a bit.
Remember Galileo.
on January 19, 2006 at 9:36 pm | Reply Woody

Great picture. I luh dat!
on January 20, 2006 at 10:23 am | Reply Andrew

Dave — Point well taken. The Catholic hierarchy obviously became thin-skinned about any implied challenge to the faith during the Reformation Era. The Church’s “evolution” since then has been steady, if often uneven. Leo XIII’s “Rerum Novarum” got them back on track.