As the discussions of this article on Marxmail and LBO-Talk pointed out, none of this really very new. In fact one of the defining issues in the Protestant Reformation was the insistence by many Protestants that it was the Bible, taken literally, that ought to be the authority on religious issues as opposed to the Catholic insistence that authority concerning religious teachings is shared between Holy Scripture and the traditions of the Church, with the Vatican having the power to decide what teachings were to be accepted and which to be rejected. The Catholic Church has never insisted upon biblical literalism, holding to the contrary that many parts of the Bible have to be taken metaphorically. Over the years, the Catholic Church has had much less trouble with Darwinism than have Protestant fundamentalists. The Church is quite willing to live with the idea that humans may have evolved from apes, provided that one believes that God intervened to give these primates immortal souls.
Years ago, Pope Pius XII issued a statement that said that evolution was compatible with Catholicism, but stopping short of fully endorsing neo-Darwinism, on the grounds that it could be interpreted as excluding divine teleology from our understanding of creation. The last pontiff, John Paul II, went further in endorsing the compatibility of neo-Darwinism with Catholicism but warning against those who would interpret neo-Darwinism as supporting an atheistic materialism (presumably, the Pope had people like Richard Dawkins in mind). On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 08:28:02 -0400 "Charles Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > But not of the Pope ? > > CB > > ^^^^ > > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1811332,00.html > > > Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible > > By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent > > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [email protected] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
