I am a practicing Catholic. I am studying to become a biologist/doctor/researcher/any of the above. I've written about this before, but my views have since developed. . . and possibly regressed. I believe in evolution. I also believe in God. I go to church every week, pray a rosary once a month and try my damnedest not to do anything that'll piss off the pastor. No, I do not believe in everything the Catholic Church would have me believe. No, I do not follow blindly. I ask questions and may or may not agree with the answers I get in return. To me, God, spirituality, and faith are what I make them. The way I see it, why waste my life away trying to figure out something that humans have not, in all of our existance, settled upon? My God is not to be feared, but respected. My God is a guiding force, the connection between all things both good and evil. I believe in the natural order of life. I believe that humans will be as they choose, and that they are entirely responsible for the way they choose to live. My God did not create the earth/ universe etc. My God is the universe. Both good and evil, rich and desolate. As far as evolution, it is one of the processes of life. I am a practicing Catholic, sure, I go to church and participate in church activities for the sense of belonging it gives me. But as far as believeing in church doctrine? nope. I don't buy it. I go through the same motions, chant the prayers and sing the hymns, but to me, Jesus was a man who was murdered because he stood up for his personal faith. He was a good man, by my standards, but I wouldn't blame him if he took off running in the other direction when he saw Judas and the preists. There are no prophets, no saints, just good people with charisma and influence on those who need to follow. Good for them. They make this universe more balanced against all those who, for whichever reasons, choose to make life difficult for those who haven't chosen sides.
Science isn't magic. We just haven't figured it all out quite yet.
Religion isn't magic. We just haven't figured it all out quite yet.
We probably never will, so why trouble ourselves with it? Be selfish. Choose to believe in something that satisfies you. Believe in chocolate, if that is what you want. Believe in Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, or something all your own. And just as the leaves turn and die, let your choice, your beliefs, develop, change and regress. As you like it.
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since evolution is compatible with Catholic theology and taught in Catholic schools.
Bishop DiLorenzo of Richmond, chair of the Committee on Science and Human Values in a December 2004 letter sent to all U.S. bishops: "...Catholic schools should continue teaching evolution as a scientific theory backed by convincing evidence. At the same time, Catholic parents whose children are in public schools should ensure that their children are also receiving appropriate catechesis at home and in the parish on God as Creator. Students should be able to leave their biology classes, and their courses in religious instruction, with an integrated understanding of the means God chose to make us who we are."
In fact, some of evolution science's most vocal defenders are Catholics.
One question: If you believe that God is whatever you make Him, then why bother? Just because it makes you feel better? That's a pretty sorry reason for believing in God. What about the deeper issues, like what happens when you die? Does God love you? Does your life have any meaning? Your version of faith is no faith at all.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have." - Barry Goldwater
"... the ostensible means [diversity] of acheiving a desired end had become the end itself." - Clarence Thomas
Exactly. And not. . Forgive me, because I am still developing this for myself, but the idea is this- why spend your life trying to fit into a cookie-cutter religion if you already know what you believe? There are some things that will always be beyond us. Who cares what happens when you die? The goal is to keep the balance of good/evil in the world tilted a bit more towards the good, right? If God is everything, the good and evil, God has no emotion. So does God love you? Sure, if that will help you become a contributer towards the common good. And for all the mysterious, unsolvable questions, why ponder away when it is possible to find answers to the unknown-yet-not-so-mysterious? My life does have meaning, to provide for the general common good, to find answers to those questions that we can almost-but not quite- answer, and to find peace with myself and the state of the world. As far as faith goes, let it be whatever you want. My faith- the entire reason I fight for good instead of evil- lies in my belief that most people are good, that innocents must be preserved and that God, my God, is essentially the universe and therefore an infinite entity, the only entity, and that we, all humans, living things and nonliving things make up this entity. The human need to define our God is an infintely unanswerable need, because in all our existance we have not succeded in learning everything about the universe, God.
I think answers your question, as I said, I am still working this out for myself.
While I don't agree with you, at all, I think you present your argument in a logical manner. A+
After reading my blogs, you should likely know that I don't believe in god, love the Theory of Evolution, and cannot stand Uber-Christians (or the entire Catholic church) among various other hatreds of people in general. So, you can see where we'd not quite agree.
But I think part of what the bible teaches, should you read it and just take away the moral of the story, is that you don't have to think god is the alpha and the omega: You need to be a good person, and that is something you seem to have taken to heart. ^_^
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
Because from what I read, you may be it in name only. Why continue membership to a church that you don't believe in/ agree with on almost anything? You also have kind of a paradoxical situation here: You believe the Bible enough to believe that Jesus did in fact live, and enough that you go to church, but you don't believe anything that it says? Why is that? You would do well to look into these issues rather than give the "answer" that you already know what you believe. Apparently you don't, otherwise you wouldn't put on this facade of being a Catholic when you clearly do not have Catholic beliefs.
It is good that you are trying to figure these things out for yourself, its more than most folks do. But do yourself a favor: next time you are in church, give it a chance rather than dismiss it. I think that you might be surprised.
Thanks! I'm still not settled on anything, really. I'm trying to figure this things out for myself and it is taking a while. I go to a catholic church because that is where my family is, where my friends and the community I have grown up in is. As far as gaining any spiritual knowlege, any excitement about worshiping, my church is not supplying these, and my pastor is less then wiling to answer my many, many questions. I know the Catholic church has books and websites and information avaliable, and I am and will continue to study these. But I don't know anything, really, about other religions, and as I educate myself I'm a little afraid that I will misinterpret, misunderstand and muddle up the facts. But I suppose that's just another part of my quest for spirituality, sorting out all the details and coming to understand myself. It's easier said than done.
You, like 99% of the rest of the world, practice the religion of your parents, only as a result of being born into it. Not as a result of any review of the religious teachings or understanding why it is important or even considering the history of the religion you practice.
You note: "I believe in evolution. I also believe in God."
My question is why? Unless you can state your reasoning, you are exactly nowhere.
You also note: "I go to church every week, pray a rosary once a month and try my damnedest not to do anything that'll piss off the pastor."
My comment is, if you are intellectually honest, you surely understand the ONLY reason you do this, is to not upset the apple cart with your relatives and others you want to continue associating with.
Seems to me, your choice is to do the research needed to make some decisions, or to learn to ignore your curiosity and suffer the proverbial consequencies.
Just out of curiosity, what do you think Matthew Chapter 7 means?
A laudible goal, but one that requires one to think through their beliefs.
When you disagree "with the answers [you] get ..." does it bother you that you are going against established theology? Many people claim to base their life decisions on theology. Catholicism is the largest Christian sect. There is over a billion Catholics, and you have decided that for that with respect to that answer, a large part of them are living under an incorrect. premise.
Does it bother you that your official representive to God may have gotten the wrong impression? After all, the premise of Papal Infallibility has been a foundational premise of the Catholic Church for an awfully long time.
If that were true for everyone then everyone would have their own personal God different from everybody else. Is that reasonable? Is there only one God or is there several billion?
What does this mean? Does God have the power to punish? If so then why should he not be feared? What do you believe God has done? Did he do the things the bible ascribes to him? If so then much of what he did should NOT be respected. If not, then why do you consider yourself a Catholic whose God is the God of the bible?
God is a guiding force of what? Does he personally guide the workings of the universe? If so don't you think that is a little wasteful, considering the fact that the simple laws of nature should suffice? Or does he guide the people within the universe? If so then why is it reasonable that he is doing such a bad job of it?
And exactly what IS the natural order of life?
I do too, but then again I don't believe there is something out there who has taken it upon himself to help guide us through our tough times.
Why not call God, "the Universe"? Why attribute human-like intentions to the universe as a whole? What makes you think the universe is a guiding force? How does a quasar 10 billion light years away contribute in any significant way to guiding force?
Yes, it is. And the Catholic Church is not against it. But doesn't it bother you that the only way to harmonize the bible, the foundational document of all of Christianity, with evolution is to make the bible mean what no one would ever normally think it means.
Then why do you think of yourself as being Catholic. Doesn't it bother you that so many of your fellow Catholics are living their life under false premises? Doesn't it bother you that God ... your guiding force .... seems to be guiding them into false beliefs?
If I read this correctly, then you do not believe that Jesus was the "son of God", God incarnate, or anything more special than just a good guy. But there have been a lot of good guys ... in both history and fictional literature, so why do you consider HIS teachings to be of importance. I personally find them sappy and sophmoric. I MUCH prefer the teachings of Steven R. Covey in his book THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE. Those are teachings that one can actually use in all situations.
Was Jim Jones a good person? Was Jerry Falwell a good person? How about Heaven's Gate founder, Maurice Applewhite? How about Pope Sixtus IV, the Pope who approved of the Spanish Inquisition?
Was Mohandas Gandhi NOT a good person? How about Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, Nobel Peace Prize winner. How about Ali Ayaan Hirsi, the woman of muslm descent who has been actively speaking out against some of Islam's more violent acts, which has earned her a death sentence if she ever sets foot back in an Islamic Republic.
Does being a Christian REALLY make one more likely to be a good person than not being a Christian? What evidence do you have one way or the other?
But which has done the better job? Science has made a lot of progress. Where is the progress in religion?
A rather curious statement for someone who professes an interest in scientific research.
At some point in human history that argument could have been used for anything. If we took that argument seriously then we would not have figured out anything, would we? The reason to "bother" is because problems have a way of becoming solvable the more we know about it.
Doesn't it bother you that many beliefs are in direct opposition to others? That means that if one is right then the others have to be wrong. Isn't there value in basing one's beliefs on the best possible information available? Why should this not be the standard for everyone?
Cheers,
Darwin's Beagle
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If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. - Anatole France