2006-09-26 09:55:35 · 16 answers · asked by jmmmmm 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Some do, some don't. It is a personal decision not a Church doctrine.
Catholics believe that the Bible contains religious truth but not always historical fact.
The Creation stories in Genesis tell the religious truth that God created the world and it was good.
The Catholic Church (hopefully) has learned it lesson and now proclaims that religion and science can coexist and complement each other.
Catholics can believe in the theory of evolution. Or not. The Church does not require belief in evolution.
Evolution is the most scientifically sound explanation of God's creation at this time. Tomorrow someone may come up with a better theory.
With love in Christ.
2006-09-26 18:20:14 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Since biological evolution is a matter of biology, with no bearing on true theology, Catholics are free to accept the scientific evidence, or not. It has no bearing on true Christian faith. You might as well ask if Catholics "believe in" photosynthesis.
Catholics MUST believe what the Bible says - that God created the human body from inorganic matter ("the dust of the earth"), by a process not specified in Scripture, and then made it a human being, in His own image and likeness, by breathing into it an immortal soul and spiritual nature. That is completely compatible with biological evolution of the body.
2006-09-26 17:03:45 · answer #2 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In my biology class in a Catholic High School, I was taught that evolution is correct. The nun did say that she believed that at some point God toughed man and gave him a soul (she was not speaking literally). I suppose that she would now say she believed in Intelligent Design -- but that evolution wa sthe method God chose.
In College, I was taught by a Catholic Priest/PhD Biologist that evolution was real.
Pope Paul II once said that evolution is much more than just theory.
The Catholic Church actually learned its lesson about Science when they realized that they were wrong to condemn Galileo.
(if only the rest of the church would catch up)
2006-09-26 17:02:50 · answer #3 · answered by Ranto 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
While I cannot speak for all Catholics, I can tell you the Church has no problem with evolution.
2006-09-26 16:58:27 · answer #4 · answered by Shaken Not Stirred 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes ... Theistic evolutionists. <1> "God created the world & every thing in it ... including evolution". We are taught that God loved us enough to create us into his image (it's probable he did this through evolution).
Statistically speaking, the probablities of life (any life ... a single cell) developing by itself is asrtronomical ... and this in many ways supports an Almighty Creator who orchastrated life and evolution ... Are we simply monkies? Or, did a Loving Father choose us to be human like in his image?
"Science and theology are two hands of revelation, according to the great Franciscan theologian St. Bonaventure. True, there should be noninterference. Even more than that, there should be cooperation. The God of theology and the God of scientific learning are one and the same." <2>
2006-09-26 16:57:11 · answer #5 · answered by Giggly Giraffe 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
On the whole, yes. Catholicism is not a literalist denomination.
It's important to remember, however, that evolution and abiogenesis (the initial creation of life from non-life) are not dependent on each other. Evolution and divine biogenesis are compatible.
2006-09-26 17:04:54 · answer #6 · answered by rorgg 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can't speak for specific Catholics, but the Roman Catholic Church has accepted Evolution as a scientific fact, has it not?
Edit: quote from Catholic Answers http://www.catholic.com/library/Adam_Eve_and_Evolution.asp
"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 whether the human body was specially created or developed, we are required to hold as a matter of Catholic faith that the human soul is specially created; it did not evolve, and it is not inherited from our parents, as our bodies are.
"While the Church permits belief in either special creation or developmental creation on certain questions, it in no circumstances permits belief in atheistic evolution."
2006-09-26 16:56:59 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some do and some don't. The last pope put out a declaration that evolution has some basis.
2006-09-26 16:57:08 · answer #8 · answered by nondescript 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Roman Catholic Church has evolved from centuries of killing to more peaceful means of proselytizing so, I would say "yes".
2006-09-26 17:03:23 · answer #9 · answered by ___ 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
yeah i guess(only roman catholics like me)
2006-09-26 17:02:31 · answer #10 · answered by jennyrosemathew 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋