Comments on: Must Catholics believe as an article of faith that all human beings have descended from two real human beings, Adam and Eve?

By: al

al — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:32:47 +0000

if there was no garden of eden, no adam and eve, no serpent and no fall, then there is no need for salvation.As an ex Catholic and an ex-fundamentalist protestant, it seems to me that the Catholic Church wants to have its cake and eat it too. Without a fall in the Garden as relayed by Genesis, there is no scriptural need for salvation. You can’t just make something up out of thin air. All Christianity stands on the historicity and infallibility of the Bible. If one believes the Bible is not historical and not infallible and inerrant, then one need not accept the tenets of Chrstianity. Anything beyond that is baseless mysticism.

By: Thuy

Thuy — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:26:03 +0000

Thank you, Father Joe, for bringing the church perspective into this issue beyond the “Catholics believe in God and therefore must not believe in evolution.” I, too, have found that there’s no reason to separate the two. It is unreasonable to expect bible writers to be the source of all truth, scientifically or otherwise. As a student of science, I find that the more I learn about the world, about the human body, etc, the more I am awed by God’s greatness, to have created such complex and perfect systems, with such elegant harmony in every level of biology, chemistry, physics. Evolution does not disprove our faith that God created the world, it furthers our understanding of God’s wisdom in creating the world that can adapt to change. For if God had created all living creatures as they are today, they’ll all be extinct by now, not having been able to adapt to changing environments.

By: John R.P. Russell

John R.P. Russell — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:04:16 +0000

While it is true that the theory of evolution does not necessarily contradict Catholic teaching (except for the idea of “random” mutations that certain evolutionary systems rely on), it must be pointed out that neither does it support Catholic teaching. A Catholic may believe in a literal Adam and Eve and still be a good Catholic.

Also, Fr. Joe did not mention a fourth religious truth proclaimed in the Genesis story that Catholics are called to believe in: 4. The Fall of Man and original sin.

“Evolution is more than a hypothesis,‚Äù as Fr. Joe quoted; it is a theory. But this fails to address a fallacy in the question above, which states, “if science proves beyond a doubt….” Science does not and cannot prove anything beyond a doubt. The scientific method is based upon the principle of uncertainty. Any theory is capable of being disputed and overturned in light of new evidence. There is no “beyond a doubt” except in faith. The antonym of “doubt” is “faith,” and it is foolish to put “faith” in a “theory.”