This is a response by Ahmed Alhasan to the statements of some of the clerics of the Catholic Church about evolution. This excerpt is taken from Atheism Delusion.
The Catholic Church has rejected the theory of evolution for decades, though it did not make an official statement, or even express an opinion or approve of what the theory of evolution presents. This is despite the fact that the theory of evolution deals directly with creation, the most essential issue presented by religion, and completely contradicts the Biblical creation story.
Other denominations took a stance nearly identical to the Catholic Church but did not speak about it openly. The reason for this may be obvious. The times had changed, and there was no longer an inquisition. Thus it was no longer possible to slit Darwin’s tongue as was done to Giordano Bruno, or to imprison and oppress him like Galileo. That is why they resorted to silence. Eventually, when they realized that evidence favoring evolution was accumulating significantly, especially after the expansion of genetics, the Catholic Church was compelled to acknowledge the theory of evolution. Then the Catholic clergy began to say they never opposed Darwin or evolution. The truth is that they did not slit Darwin’s tongue or burn him at the time, simply because their authority in Europe had come to an end. Today, they are compelled to accept the theory of evolution even though it could mean the death of the religion of Church Christianity, because the evidence is only debated by an ignorant few who do not understand what evolution is or how it works.
Moreover, the theory is no longer the same as it was when originally presented by Darwin. Perhaps the only thing remaining is the general concept since the details, methods of theorizing, proofs, and evidence of evolution have all recently emerged anew due to advancements in science and research. For those who believe in this theory, it now represents a perfected scientific treatise that explains the creation story without the need for any supernatural power intervening in the completion, or even the initiation of this process. For this reason, the theory of evolution today represents a theory that refutes religion and the existence of a god. No one can claim to accept both evolution and religion without resolving the conflict that precludes accepting them both. The theory of evolution as it is presented, understood, and theorized today by evolutionary biologists states that evolution is not purposeful in the long-term, making it irreconcilable with religion.
In other words, no one can say they completely accept the theory of evolution along with its consequent implications, including that evolution isn’t a purposeful process in the long-term, and still simultaneously say they accept religion. This is a blatant contradiction at a basic level. It would not be made by a rational and knowledgeable person without first resolving the contradiction to make it correct, acceptable, and logical. That is why I have said that the acceptance of the theory of evolution by the Church, something it was compelled to do, could mean the death of the religion of Church Christianity unless the Church resolves this contradiction by proving that evolution is purposeful in the long-term. The clerics don’t understand this of course, because many of them, unfortunately, don’t understand what evolution really is, or how the theory of evolution is presented today.
Here is a segment from a debate between Dr. Richard Dawkins¹ and George Pell, an Australian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Sydney, Australia:
CARDINAL PELL: You have to reason about the facts of science, ask whether you believe that the suggestion that, you know, random selection is sufficient and also most evolutionary biologists today don’t believe that.
RICHARD DAWKINS: Don’t believe what?
CARDINAL PELL: They don’t believe in random so this crude fundamentalist version of random selection that you propose.
RICHARD DAWKINS: I do not propose it and I strongly deny that evolution is random selection. Evolution is a non-random selection. Non-random.
CARDINAL PELL: So there is a purpose to it is there?
RICHARD DAWKINS: No.
CARDINAL PELL: Could you explain what non-random means?
RICHARD DAWKINS: Yes, of course I could. It’s my life’s work. . . . There is random genetic variation and non-random survival and non-random reproduction, which is why, as the generations go by, animals get better at doing what they do. That is quintessentially non-random. It does not mean there is a purpose in the sense of a human purpose in the sense of a guiding principle which is thought up in advance. With hindsight you can say something like a bird’s wing looks as though it has a purpose, a human eye looks as though it has a purpose but it has come about through the process of non-random natural selection. There is no purpose in the human sense. There is a kind of pseudo-purpose but it’s not a purpose in the human sense of conscious guiding. But above all I must stress that Darwinian evolution is a non-random process. One of the biggest misunderstandings, which I’m sorry to say the Cardinal has just perpetrated, is that evolution is a random process. It is the opposite of a random process (Religion And Atheism Q & A: Adventures In Democracy 2012).
It is clear that the Cardinal entered the debate with Dr. Dawkins without an understanding of evolution or what evolutionary biologists like Dawkins say about it. They say that evolution is non-random because it is governed by the system of natural selection, yet it is not purposeful in the long-term.
¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins
The excerpt is taken from Atheism Delusion by Ahmed Alhasan احمد الحسن
Click here to read similar glaring delusions of men of religion.
