Catholic Tradition vs. Darwinian Dogma

Allowing for legitimate differences of opinion, here are the hard lines between Christian faith in creation and the quasi-religion of materialism

Peacock (source)

The Catholic Church has never endorsed evolutionary theory simply speaking, and could never endorse neo-Darwinism, which sees all living things, including man, as the result of chance interactions of matter functioning according to necessary “laws of nature.” There are no grounds for harmony between the Church’s teaching and the non-theistic premises of mainstream evolutionary theory. On the contrary, the latter is an example of ideology masquerading as science.

While John Paul II and Benedict XVI are often cited as supporters of evolutionary theory, they supported a notion of it far more limited than the one held by most scientists; and, at any rate, they always carefully distanced themselves from the naturalism and materialism that are part and parcel of the evolutionist mentality in all the major establishments that promote it. Wrote the Polish pope: “It is clear that the truth of faith about creation is radically opposed to the theories of materialistic philosophy. These view the cosmos as the result of an evolution of matter reducible to pure chance and necessity.”

In this series of three posts, I will look at three points.

First, today, I will summarize the teaching of divine revelation on the role of God in the natural world, since, for believers, the first and abiding source of truth—especially in doubtful and difficult matters—is God, not our own feeble and fallible resources.

Second, I will speak about the concept of chance, often invoked as a principle of evolution, showing that, in and of itself, chance can explain nothing and has meaning only in connection with intelligence and purpose.

Finally, I will call upon the testimony of a few great thinkers of the Christian tradition.