Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, who is the head of the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Culture, recently affirmed the church’s full fledged acceptance of neo-Darwinism as the mechanism by which God created the world and mankind.  He wrote, “In fact, what we mean by evolution is the world as created by God.”  

How did they goof up again? 

They overstepped their religious boundaries by making formal scientific assertions.  (Steven Jay Gould, the late biologist who argued for a vigorous separation of religious and scientific domains, might be turning in his grave right now.)  You see, the Catholic Church made the same sort of mistakes with Galileo in the 1600s.  He said that the earth and all the planets move around the sun; the Catholic Church said he was wrong and they locked him up.  The church claimed the sun and all the planets revolve around the earth.  It turns out Galileo was right and the church was wrong.

There are 2 good reasons why churches should refrain from making such statements. 

First, as Galileo pointed out to the Catholic Church hundreds of years ago, churches are in the business of saving souls, not scientific theories.  Hearing the Catholic Church make scientific truth claims is a bit like going to the butcher shop and being given legal instruction on how to write a binding contract, or going to the bank and being given medical instructions on how to treat a sports injury.  I am pleased that the LDS church has refrained from making formal statements about scientific issues.  It seems to understand better than other religions that its purpose is to bring souls unto Christ.

Second, science is an ever changing enterprise.  It is a bit hard for us to realize that well-accepted theories come and go because so many of us don’t have the benefit of living long enough to see this happen.  Here are a few recent examples.  The once widely accepted scientific theory of Phlogiston is now debunked.  The once widely accepted theory of Luminiferous Ether is now debunked.  Even several of Newton’s “irreplaceable and irrefutable” ideas have now been replaced by Einstein’s Relativity.  The geocentric (earth-centered) theory of the universe which dominated science for over 1400 years was eventually replaced, and, yes, one day evolution may also be replaced by a superior theory of the diversity of life forms.  Hard to believe?!  That is what the advocates of ether and Newton’s mechanics once thought.

What happens when a scientific theory changes or is debunked, as history has shown?  This is an important question for religions to consider.  If a religion thoroughly embraces a scientific theory, what does it say when that theory changes or is debunked?  If it claims inspiration from God, how will its leadership appear to others when it says, “Uh. Umm . . . We made a mistake, guys”?  It will appear foolish.  This is exactly what happened with the Catholic Church in its handling of the Galileo affair.

American philosopher George Santayana wrote “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”  The Catholic Church would be wise to consider this sage advice.