Continuing on with previous article, religion is once again the subject; I have one more that I had written a while ago which will posted at some random occasion. After that it will back some reviews on films and video games.
This piece probably relates back to another debate had between atheism and religion. What seems to be prevailing idea of most atheists is that people of religion believe in fairy tales and think science some sort of evil lie meant to turn them away from God. On the contrary, the Catholic Church is well known in history as the founder of many universities, many priests and monks have made great strides in botany and astronomy, as well doing the complex calculations to develop our current calendar system. While there are Christians the do reject science outright, it’s not a prevailing amongst Christians.
The theory of evolution has been subject of contention between the religious community and scientific communities. As I explain in the following paragraphs, theology and the theory of evolution can coexist quite well.
I recent years, with new scientific discoveries, Charles Drawin's Theory of Evolution has picked up steam. It has sparked a debate between those who believe in this theory and religion, specifically with Christians; Evolution vs. Genesis aka Creationism. The debate has been over which one is true and explains the creation of humanity. It has been debated whether or not it should be taught in schools, and fanatics on either side, activists, religious leaders, teachers, parents, and students have argued whether or not it should be taught; but that is not what we are here to discuss. As I mentioned before I am Roman Catholic, and thus I believe God created everything (hate me or not, call be an idiot, I really don't care, you are more of an idiot for continuing that bigotry). As a Catholic not only am I taught God is creator, but I also to think and interpret the Bible, not look at liberally. The stories in the Bible are ancient, and thus the people who wrote the testaments to explain certain things. So, I present to you my interpretation of the Bible, how evolution and religion can coexist and how, if looked at a different way, evolution is mentioned within the Bible.
In the beginning God created everything, he sparked the Big Bang setting the Universe into motion, guiding the atoms that would form the building blocks of galaxies, planets, suns, the phenomena of the cosmos, and life. God guided these elements to form the universe as we know it, including our world Earth. According some religious theorist the Earth was created 6,000 years ago; and according to the Bible the Earth was created in seven days, but the question no one ever seems to ask is, how long is a “God day”? The answer is: no one knows, it could be millennia long, but I can assure you that it is probably longer than 24 hours. So with his creation, God was pleased, and then decided to populate it with life.
God would them direct the atoms to form living creatures, microscopic at first, coming out the rock and ash of the planet. Over time he guided it and molded it so that it would form into the various of life that would populate his new world. The one species that he specifically guided was humanity, so that it would fit with his image. He took the most evolved human and placed him in the Garden of Eden and then we have the story of Adam and Eve. Perhaps after their exile, there genetic material was spread to other, less evolved humans creating what we are today.
Another way to look at the genesis story is not explain the origins of humanity, but of it's greatest creation, Civilization (and no not the game, though it is awesome). The Garden of Eden is said to be located in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Middle East. This region is the home of the first civilizations. Perhaps God kicked us out of the first civilization and we forced to create our own, building the great civilizations of Babylon, Egypt, Greece, China, Rome, Japan, Britain, France, and America. God may have not created us in his image physically, but mentally, our ability to think and create.
So, can Religion and Evolution coexist? Yes.
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