Specific scientific discoveries Flashcards
(7 cards)
Evolution
Darwin’s theory of evolution:
- Darwin’s voyage on ‘The Beagle’ from 1831 to 1836 led to him developing this theory. His observations during this voyage, for example of the beaks of finches on the Galápagos Islands, convinced him of the truth of natural selection.
- His theory is this based on inductive reasoning.
‘One general law, leading to the advancements of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.’- Darwin, On the Origin of Species
- Natural Selection refers to the way in which individuals better suited to their environment survive to adulthood and reproduce, passing on their characteristics to their offspring.
- Those less suited to the environment die out and whole species perished when there are major changed to the environment.
- Darwin referred to this as the survival of the fittest.
- Darwin’s theory was highly controversial but it made sense to many people
- The science of genetics has given further support to his ideas
Christian responses to the theory of evolution
- Darwin’s theory certainly challenges traditional Christian views:
1. It rejects the idea of all living things being distinct creatures
2. It rejects the idea of all existential separateness of humanity from the animal world
3. It suggests that the evolution of species was and is due to random mutations, removing any idea of purpose.
19th Christian Century responses to evolution
- In the Nineteenth Century, there were a number of different Christian responses to Darwin’s theory.
1. Many in the Church of England ridiculed the theory. For example, in a debate in Oxford, Bishop Wilberforce asked T.H Huxley (who supported Darwin’s theory) whether his descent from a monkey came from his grandfather or his grandmother. Huxley responded that religious people should not ‘employ their faculties for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific matter.’ He essentially argued that ridiculing evolution is making a religious comment on a scientific discussion; this is inappropriate.
2. Fundamentalist Christians simply dismissed the theory as human error since it conflicted with the word of God to be found in the bible. Young earth creationists and some old earth creationists totally reject this theory because it is incompatible with Genesis creation stories, which are the infallible word of God.
3. Many Christians lost their faith altogether because of the challenge posed by evolutionary theory to traditional views about Genesis and particularly about the concept of humans as created separately in the image of God.
4. Most liberal Christians welcomed the theory; they had long rejected any literal interpretation of the Genesis creation stories. A book (Lux Mundi) on the Incarnation incorporated the concept of evolution into its thinking. They claimed that it was the way in which God designed the world; this is a key view of Karl Rahner.
This view explains the origins of design, and we can combine evolution with the Christian Anthropic Principle where the world had evolved in such a perfect way so as to accommodate human life.
- This is probably the most common modern Christian view on evolution. God was the mechanism that started off evolution with the intention that we would evolve at some point.
- Catholic teaching rejects creationism as harmful to both science and religion; it sees Christian beliefs and the theory of evolution as compatible. ‘Theology has no scientific competence and natural science has no theological competence. A Christian can accept the theory of evolution as a helpful explanatory model, provided he does not fall into the heresy of evolutionism, which views man as the random product of biological processes.’- Youcat 42.
Christian responses to Evolution
Issue One: If creation happened by natural selection, then God’s plan is based on the failure and death of member of a species. This is not compatible with a Christian ethics based on compassion and love, particularly for the vulnerable.
CAN’T BE RECONCILED: This has a massive implication for humans, for example how we view disabled or sick people. It also has implications for God’s omnipotence; God should have been able to create perfect beings. *Look at Evil and Suffering unit.
CAN BE RECONCILED:
- Augustine’s aesthetic argument posits that the world is overall good, it is only when we examine small details that we find bad. The world is only a small part of the universe; the universe is overall good.
Issue Two: if altruism is just a genetic trait, then any action to help others must surely be disguised selfishness.
COUNTER- CAN BE RECONCILED: While the desire to tendency to act altruistically may be linked to genes, that doesn’t mean the actions themselves are selfish because there was always the option to act selfishly. This means that the person has made an active choice to do good.
The Big Bang Theory
- The theory of the origins of the universe developed from observations of the universe as it is now.
- Galaxies are moving away from one another, and the further away they are, the faster they move apart.
- The speed of expansion makes it possible to work out the age of the universe,
- According to this theory, about 13.8 billion years ago, there was a sudden burst of energy that marked the creation of time, space and matter.
- The theory has been supported by the discovery in 1964 of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and by the abidance of helium and hydrogen in the universe.
Christian responses to the Big Bang theory
- Many Christians are happy to accept the Big Bang theory as it can be linked with the Genesis story when God first creates Light. ‘Let there be light..And then there was light.’ Many Christians see this as the Big Bang. This can be linked to Aquinas; Third Way: everything which exists must have a cause.
- God caused the Big Bang to happen. The fine tuning of the universe suggests that it could not have happened by random chance, for example the levels of gravity and oxygen which are optimal to accommodate human life. This is the reasoning of the Anthropic Principle.
- Therefore, many Christians are happy to assume that God caused it all to come about through carefully engineering the Big Bang. The Catholic Church still accepts the Big Bang and states that it happened by the will of God.
Opposition to TBB (Creationist Views)
Some Christians totally reject scientific accounts of the origin of the universe- these are called creationists.
- Six-Day (Young Earth) Creationists
- This is a minority view held by some evangelical Christians, particularly in the USA. Creation took place in 6 days of 24 hours each as it says in Genesis. This was between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago. This does contradict scientific evidence that suggests the earth is 4.5 billion years old.
- This group believes that all humans descended from Adam and Eve. This view can only be accepted as belief as it goes against all modern scientific evidence. - Progressive (Old Earth) Creationists
- Accept the age of the Earth as given by scientific evidence
- Reject evolution
- Believe that God created each species as we see them now, intentionally.
- The ‘six days’ of creation in the Genesis story were not literal days, but rather eras of time. COUNTER: This is an unsuccessful attempt to marry up Genesis and Science. The Hebrew word ‘yom’ used in the bible literally means a 24 hour day.
- They believe that Adam was the first man to have a soul.
