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2007-06-02 08:42:33 · 8 answers · asked by MARC B 2 in Science & Mathematics Biology

8 answers

Yes and no.

I believe in microevolution, or what is commonly known as adaptation. Natural Selection has been proven in small scale, as it can be observed with Species that exhibit very short lifespans. Take a bunch of them, transplant them to a new environment, and they will show tendencies - as a species - to "evolve" adaptations that better fit the new environment. It just makes sense.

However, evolution on the grander scale, from one species to another very different species. Those in support of evolution on this scale will show you skeletons that look like a progression from one to another... but they take large steps, and only show the progression of one or two specific features. They have about as much proof of large-scale evolution as they do of human levitation.

This question often boils down to Creationism vs. Evolution. And a lot of people say that Evolution is more proven than Creation because it is a science. However, there are so many parts of evolution that require you to just believe that it happened, it might as well be a religion itself.

I personally believe in Intelligent Design. I believe that God created the Earth and everything in it. But... that does not mean that evolution did not occur either. It is very possible that God created the animals we know by the process of evolution.

I do not however, believe that evolution could have occured by freak coincidence. Look at a cell. Look at how many complicated parts are required for a cell to function. Now can you imagine all of them just randomly occuring, and all at the same time, and all working together to maintain life. Look at how interdependent the parts are, and how they work together... it's just infeasible. Then pull back a little farther. Assume that this impossible event has occured. How many times did this impossible event have to occur, creating life and eventually dying, before one of these cells reproduced before it died. And yet another step back. How did cells come to work together to make a multicellular organism. How did these cells divurge until you ended up with some cells responsible for bone structure, and some for muscles and some for skin, etc etc etc. What environmental condition led to this? What ability of an individual cell made it capable of working with another. And how did the situation develop to the point where one single cell could subdivide into different cells with different functions that all worked together just right to make a living, breathing, eating creature?

2007-06-02 09:11:23 · answer #1 · answered by chewie007 3 · 1 2

It seems to be the best theory so far.

The Catholic Church does not take the stories of creation in the Bible literally. Catholics believe the book of Genesis tells religious truth and not necessarily historical fact.

One of the religious truths is that God created everything and declared all was good.

Catholics can believe in the theory of evolution. Or not. The Church does not require belief in evolution.

On August 12, 1950 Pope Pius XII said in his encyclical Humani generis:

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, on the part of men experienced in both fields, 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 - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.

Here is the complete encyclical: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html

The Church supports science in the discovery of God's creation. At this time, the theory of evolution is the most logical scientific explanation. However tomorrow someone may come up with a better idea.

As long as we believe that God started the whole thing, both the Bible and modern science can live in harmony.

With love in Christ.

2007-06-03 23:54:39 · answer #2 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0 0

"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." -Theodore Dobzhansky

Evidence in the form of the fossil record, geological formations, and genetics attest to change having taken place and give clues to how evolution works. The theory of evolution puts these clues together into a cohesive explanation of the diversity of living things. However, misunderstandings about evolution are damaging to the study of evolution and biology as a whole. Keep in mind how science works - if evidence indicated that evolution did not occur, science would have abandoned the theory long ago. The links below are two sources to learn more, if you're interested.

2007-06-02 16:13:24 · answer #3 · answered by Niotulove 6 · 0 1

Evolution is not a belief...
God is a belief.

The idea of evolution was derived from examining tens of thousands of speices and noticing a common theme that adapts to its immediate surroundings. This is called empirical science. Obtaining the facts though investigation and identifing a common link among those facts. At which point you then use that common fact and create a hypothesis which after rigorous tests of proof in turn becomes a thoery . Theories CAN and HAVE been proven wrong. However there is no scientific evidence that proves the theory of evolution is wrong in fact the evidence found is to the contrary which supports the idea that evolution in fact occurs.

2007-06-02 15:57:22 · answer #4 · answered by synapticeclipse 2 · 1 1

Yes. It's a much answer that's provable and much simpler making up some myth about an all-powerful being who creates the world & life then punishes it for not being "perfect".

2007-06-02 15:53:39 · answer #5 · answered by darkmoonmann 3 · 1 1

Yes, in the same way that I "believe in" gravity. That is, the evidence for it is simply overwhelming. If you are interested in that evidence, I recommend :
http://www.talkorigins.org
If you are not interested, go back to your cave and read your bible.

2007-06-02 15:52:57 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1 1

yes, there is more evidence supporting it than against it as far as I am concerned.....I also beleive in God...so there you go.

2007-06-02 17:31:32 · answer #7 · answered by mareeclara 7 · 0 0

I believe there is more evidence to the contrary.

2007-06-02 15:47:38 · answer #8 · answered by jsardi56 7 · 1 3

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