Top Cardinal Raps Intolerance In Evolution Debate
Date: 05-Sep-05
Country: France
Author: Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, who triggered debate in the United States and Europe in July by writing that Catholics do not believe humans developed by random natural selection, said many scientists refused to even discuss these issues calmly.
The Austrian prelate, a top doctrinal expert in the Church and close associate of Pope Benedict, also urged religion teachers in his Vienna archdiocese to stress God's role in creation and discuss this with teachers from other disciplines.
Religious conservatives are leading a politically charged debate in the United States to have science classes include "intelligent design," which says nature is so complex it must be the product of a God-like designer rather than random evolution.
US President George W. Bush has backed that call, saying schools should teach both evolution and intelligent design.
"I unfortunately know of enough cases of highly intolerant behaviour in the scientific community towards people who come from other disciplines and point out where the evolutionists overstep their bounds," Schoenborn wrote in the September issue of his archdiocese's education newsletter.
He said "evolutionists" -- people convinced all life on Earth resulted strictly from random processes -- also reacted arrogantly towards "scientists who mention certain unsolved questions about the theory of evolution".
Charles Darwin's theory of genetic mutation and natural selection did not clash with belief in God, he added, as long as scientists did not assert that pure chance accounted for everything from "the Big Bang to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony".
ARTICLE SPARKS HEATED DEBATE
Schoenborn, who ranked among leading contenders to succeed the late Pope John Paul last April, appeared to herald a change in Roman Catholic doctrine in July when he wrote an op-ed page article in The New York Times backing intelligent design.
In it, he dismissed John Paul's landmark 1996 declaration endorsing evolution as "rather vague and unimportant" and accused neo-Darwinists of turning the theory into an ideology that denied any other explanation for life but natural selection.
The Vatican has not commented on The New York Times article, which he says he discussed with Pope Benedict before publication.
His article delighted US evangelical Christians, who saw him as a new ally in their campaign, and triggered a wave of protest and criticism from scientists who said intelligent design had no basis in fact and no place in science classes.
Even Catholic scientists, including the Vatican's chief astronomer, Rev. George Coyne S.J., contested Schoenborn's view.
Describing neo-Darwinists as ideologues, the cardinal said in his newsletter critical questions about evolution theory should be openly discussed "without aggressive reactions, insinuations and cheap slogans (like 'return to the pre-Enlightenment age')."
He said 30 years of studying the issue had convinced him that "the Biblical belief in God the Creator not only does not hinder science but can foster it".
Science can be "one of our greatest allies," he wrote, if it helps students "realise what any clear-thinking person can see -- how astounding and wonderful the works of the Lord are".
COOPERATE WITH ENGLISH TEACHERS
Schoenborn encouraged Vienna religion teachers to discuss intelligent design with colleagues from other disciplines and coordinate teaching plans with them.
He said his archdiocese would soon provide them with information showing links between neo-Darwinism and neo-conservative economic policies and how they are guided by evolutionary principles such as "survival of the fittest".
It would also provide "the most important articles on this debate" which, since they are published in the United States, would be "interesting for cooperation with English teachers".
Schoenborn's New York Times article garnered wide attention in the United States, where pu