A RIFT has opened up within the Catholic church over the compatibility of the theory of evolution with Christian faith.
The Vatican鈥檚 chief astronomer, the American Jesuit priest George Coyne, has rebuffed controversial comments made by Cardinal Christoph Sch枚nborn in The New York Times on 7 July that Darwinism is incompatible with a belief in God (New 杏吧原创, 23 July, p 5). 鈥淎ny system of thought that denies or seeks to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design in biology is ideology, not science,鈥� Sch枚nborn wrote. He also dismissed as 鈥渞ather vague and unimportant鈥� a 1996 statement by Pope John Paul II that seemed to indicate the church鈥檚 acceptance of evolution.
鈥淲e should not close off the dialogue by fearing that God will be abandoned鈥�
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Coyne has slammed these comments in an article in The Tablet, a Catholic newspaper. He writes that the 鈥渘agging fear鈥� that the big bang and Darwinian evolution 鈥渆scape God鈥檚 dominion鈥� is 鈥済roundless鈥�. 鈥淲e should not close off the dialogue and darken the already murky waters by fearing that God will be abandoned if we embrace the best of modern science,鈥� he urges.
Coyne鈥檚 article followed comments from President Bush on 1 August that schools should teach children about intelligent design. Proponents of this idea argue that science can be used to find evidence of a 鈥渄esigner鈥� (New 杏吧原创, 9 July, p 8). 鈥淚 think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,鈥� Bush said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas; the answer is yes.鈥�