Sunday, September 23, 2007

Religion and science

The October issue of First Things contains an article entitled "God and Evolution" in which Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. presents an admirably balanced assessment of the relationship between religion and science. While the cardinal sees no conflict between Christian faith and evolution, he does critique what he sees as the overreaching of materialistic Darwinists who draw philosophical and theological conclusions from scientific data. A representative passage:

"Science can cast a brilliant light on the processes of nature and can vastly increase human power over the environment. Rightly used, it can notably improve the conditions of life here on earth. Future scientific discoveries about evolution will presumably enrich religion and theology, since God reveals himself through the book of nature as well as through redemptive history. Science, however, performs a disservice when it claims to be the only valid form of knowledge, displacing the aesthetic, the interpersonal, the philosophical, and the religious."

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