Evolution VS Random Evolution

Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on Evolution

An influential cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, which has long been regarded as an ally of the theory of evolution, is now suggesting that belief in evolution as accepted by science today may be incompatible with Catholic faith.

The cardinal, Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, a theologian who is close to Pope Benedict XVI, staked out his position in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times on Thursday, writing, "Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not."

In a telephone interview from a monastery in Austria, where he was on retreat, the cardinal said that his essay had not been approved by the Vatican, but that two or three weeks before Pope Benedict XVI's election in April, he spoke with the pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, about the church's position on evolution. "I said I would like to have a more explicit statement about that, and he encouraged me to go on," said Cardinal Schönborn.

He said that he had been "angry" for years about writers and theologians, many Catholics, who he said had "misrepresented" the church's position as endorsing the idea of evolution as a random process.

Opponents of Darwinian evolution said they were gratified by Cardinal Schönborn's essay. But scientists and science teachers reacted with confusion, dismay and even anger. Some said they feared the cardinal's sentiments would cause religious scientists to question their faiths.

I think we have to be careful here not to equate this with the creationists 16th century views. This statement seems compatible with the work of Jesuit Priest and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. There is a big difference between the literal interpretationion of the creation story in the Bible and the belief that evolution is not random. It appears to me that Cardinal Schönborn is not questioning evolution but the randomness.

I am not a Christian and suspect that the mechanics of evolution are for the most part random but I can see how a Christian would have to reject the randomness. I don't see this as a victory for the creationists.

Cross posted at Random Fate