The day after the Church of England issued an “apology” for having “misunderstood” the work of Charles Darwin, the Vatican has announced that it will organise a debate on the thorny question of Christian belief and the theory of evolution.
Michael Reiss, a biologist and ordained Church of England clergyman, agreed to step down from his position with the national academy of science after its officers decided that his comments had damaged its reputation.
His resignation comes after a campaign by senior Royal Society Fellows who were angered by Professor Reiss’s suggestion that science teachers should treat creationist beliefs “not as a misconception but as a world view”.
Opposition to evolutionary theories is still “a litmus test of faithfulness” for some Christian movements, the Church will admit. It will say that such attitudes owe much to a fear of perceived threats to Christianity.
The comments are included on a Church of England website promoting the views of Charles Darwin to be launched on Monday.
Professor Michael Reiss, director of education for the Royal Society, said banning creationism from the classroom could backfire at a time of growing religious fundamentalism.
Professor Reiss, a Church of England minister and former biology teacher, said he strongly believed in teaching the theory of evolution to children.
But rather than dismiss creationism as wrong or stupid, teachers should be prepared to discuss it as another ‘worldview’.
Richard Dawkins, the Oxford professor and evolutionary scientist, has criticised Muslim parents for “importing creationism” into British schools.
Prof Dawkins, a well-known atheist, also blamed the Government for accommodating religious views and allowing creationism to be taught in schools.
Harun Yahya is one of the most widely distributed authors in the Muslim world.
His glossy books and DVDs on religion and science sell in Islamic bookshops around the globe. He gives away thousands of expensive volumes and lets readers download much of his work from his websites for free.
Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, the Vatican’s astronomer speculates.
Research suggests religion can act as an “insurance policy” against the adversities of life.
Europeans have long viewed the conflict between evolutionists and creationists as primarily an American phenomenon, but it has recently jumped the Atlantic Ocean with skirmishes in Italy, Germany, Poland and, notably, Britain, where Darwin was born and where he published his 1859 classic.
Michael Dowd speaks in tongues, and when he’s not doing that, he’s talking almost nonstop about why Christians should embrace evolution.