Almost
all religions , especially the organized religions, had been and are still
holding strongly the view of Creationism.
Even after one and a half centuries after Darwinism still people rush
madly to the justice system to stop teaching Evolution in schools. However, probably
after learning lessons from the bitter experience with Galileo, Christian
religion is trying to wriggle out from Darwinian onslaught. The catholic Church has almost accepted or at
least not objected to evolutionary concepts. Some earlier popes like Pope Pius
XII (1950) and Pope John Paul II (1996)
tried to give space for the theory of evolution. But Pope Francis publically
announced that evolution is compatible with church teachings. But Islamic
religion is still trying to hold on to creation theory as such. Evolution is an
anathema to them.
Mutation,which
is the raw material for evolution is a proved scientific fact. But believers
question that. At the same time, they are ready to believe that one of the ribs
of Adam is enough to make Eve! It is also quite interesting to find evangelists
very boldly giving messages that all males have one rib less, since it was
plucked out to make Eve. I have personally found even biology teachers and
physiotherapists fully believing one-rib-less-man! So strong are the THE words! But in the words of Genesis I have my
own questions.
Genesis
2:18 -- The Lord God
said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable
for him.”
Genesis 1:27 -- So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of
God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:21 -- "So the LORD God caused the man to fall
into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and
then closed up the place with flesh."
Genesis
2:18 So god did not think of creating
man and woman; he made man; then on second thoughts created a
"helper" to him!
In
Genesis 1:27 god created man and woman in his image. But in Genesis 2:21
creation of man and woman was in a different process! Two versions of Bible give
such varied mode of creation.
There
is no explanation for a few questions like presence of fossils, extinction of
some species (dinosaurs), geological strata, mutations and so on. What could be
the explanation for some animals becoming extinct? God created and some of them
in the course of time became extinct! Didn’t God know at the time of creation that some of his
creations would disappear from this earth at a certain time. Moreover, Christian
believers calculate the genealogy of Christ from Adam and say the world is just
6000 years old while the scientists have calculated the age of earth to 4.6 billion years. When the age of fossils have been
calculated scientifically by carbon dating believers are never willing to
accept even these proved results.
Another interesting question is how come the Almighty God
should take six days to create all those in the earth. Then a day to rest!
There is even a dispute whether that 'sabbath day' was a Saturday and Sunday!!
The whole story of creation in the Bible looks more like a kid story, and
nothing less. Genesis 2:3 : -- God blessed the seventh day
and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of
creating that he had done. Is god so tired? Is creation such an arduous
and hard work for god? Does he need a 'rest day' after six day's work? Looks too
humanish!! One another explanation the believers keep giving is 'a day' for us
need not be a 24-hour day for god!
"…. developments in astronomy and geology had made the
genesis story of the seven days of
creation seem like a fairy tale, that modern views of the spatiotemporal
universe had made the doctrines of 'heaven above and hell below' and Christ's
ascension into heaven unacceptable to the modern mind". -- A Common Faith
by John Dewey (1859 - 1952)
In spite of some hard core believers still sticking to the
Biblical story of creation, Christianity as such has very much mellowed down
and they try to accept changes in their faith. Unlike in Islam, faith is not a straitjacket
in Christianity. Such mellowing down has happened in some religious Christian
faiths. Let me take just two examples.
The first is one of the Sacraments - confession, among Catholics. When I was a
kid we were taught to have weekly confessions. This ritual lasted for long.
Even when I was a college student this was practiced by most of the regular
church goers. But then there was a great decline. From being a regular Saturday
feature it then became a thing for the Christmas festivals like Easter,
Christmas etc.. But it has lost its importance and nowadays people have to go
for confession only either before their communion or marriage. There ends the
matter. What was a weekly feature when I was a kid, has now faded. Confession
has become a non-functioning sacrament now.
Another feature is the concept on birth-control. Even when
I was doing my elementary classes, we were taught in our catechism classes that
any mode of birth control was against Christianity. We were taught that coitus
was only a procreative act and it has to be so always. Conception should not be
wantonly stopped. The Government was then insisting on birth control. I
remember in my high school days our catechism teachers used to give a simpe
analogy: god has given us two hands - to work for our bread; but only one mouth
to feed! It sounded so good then. Only after a few years, it dawned on me that
to earn bread with two hands would take two decades while the feeding should
start from the first minute after birth.
Of course, these ideas were strictly among catholics. Not sure about
Prostestants. I feel that protesstants never openly come out for or against
birth control. But Catholics were so serious about it. When I grew up I used to
feel that having more number of children was a 'Christian disease'! But these
strict ideas and taboos were lost in the course of time. Nowadays Christians
finally have understood the positive side of coitus and all restrictions have
gone off with the modern wind. I am happy that the 'faith' gave space to the
changing social views, without being adamant with some blind ideas and concepts.
=============
Ref:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/30/5-facts-about-evolution-and-religion
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