Talking on science and religion at the local grammar school

Nearly two years ago, I blogged about a Visit to Chis 'n Sid, the popular nickname for our local non-denominational school, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar. For non-UK readers, I should explain that a "grammar school" in the UK is a school where pupils are selected by academic ability.

Today, I was at the school again, at the invitation of one of the senior pupils who is a parishioner at Blackfen. The subject was the same: "Science and Religion", and I received a warm welcome at the voluntary lunchtime "Christian Union" meeting. The turnout was very impressive - and included at least half a dozen members of staff, mostly from the science department. The school includes pupils of all religions and none, so I had no idea what the makeup of the audience would be. My young parishioner made the wise decision of advertising the talk without specifying that it was organised by the Christian Union, so that people did not have to wonder whether they had to be Christians to attend.

Before the talk, a couple of the younger pupils were asking each other "Are you for science or are you for religion?" so that gave me a good opening to say that as a Christian, I was for both. I tried to get across, in the fairly brief time available, that the wisdom of God is shown both in creation and in revelation and that the study of science leads us to God.

The intelligent and courteous questions from pupils and staff left me with a very good impression of the school and I was sorry not to have had longer to continue the discussion. From the discussions, it was evident that a number of people there were sincere Christians, perhaps of a more evangelical background. I think there is a real concern among many that the science of material evolution is a danger to the Christian faith. My own thesis, in line with the Faith Movement, (and see especially the pamphlets on Science and Religion) is that the evidence for evolution in the material universe is compelling, and presents no danger to the faith, provided of course, that we do not include the spiritual soul as something "evolved". (Since it is not material, the soul cannot be part of such a material process but is directly created at the moment of conception, as the Church teaches.)

As Catholics we have every reason to be positive about the natural sciences since the enormous progress in science of the last few centuries arose out of the intellectual ferment of the high middle ages, particularly relying on the Christian philosophical acceptance that God acts through secondary causes; and therefore it is a rational and proper thing to study the causes of things in the material world.

A further development today, I think, is that pessimism about the ability of the human mind to know the truth, and the post-modern reduction of science to just another of the myths we live by, are leading to the erosion of the scientific endeavour. It might seem ironic to suggest that Christians will be at the forefront of defending the natural sciences - but if the sciences are founded ultimately on the Christian philosophical view of the world, we should not find it surprising that eventually Christians might be the last defenders of the natural sciences.

One day in the future, hacking a path through the jungle of subjectivism, political correctness and Counterknowledge, we could find an astonishing ally. "Professor Dawkins, I presume?"

Popular posts from this blog

1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
Read more

Request for Novena to Blessed Pius IX

Image
A priest friend of mine is ill in hospital. He has a special devotion to Blessed Pius IX. Could I ask you, of your charity, to say a Novena for his speedy recovery. Novena In Honour of Blessed Pius IX Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX, who consecrated the Universal Church to you. (Our Father...) O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you Immaculate. (Hail Mary...) Saint Joseph, spouse of the most pure Virgin Mary, hear our prayer and glorify your servant Pius IX who declared you the Patron of the Universal Church. (Glory be...) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Mary, our Hope, and Saint Joseph hear our prayers and glorify your servant Pius IX , granting to us through his merits and intercessions the graces which we ardently desire: that the glory of God be revealed through Father's illness. (Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory be...
Read more

Saint Gabriel

Image
The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
Read more

Saint Ignatius on heresy, and the capsizing boat

Image
On the feast of St Ignatius, I offer my prayers and good wishes to some great Jesuits. Just off the top of my head, I think of Fr Joseph Fessio SJ the founder of Ignatius Press which has not only published the English translations of various works of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict, but has also given a break for good Catholic authors both of theology and of Catholic fiction. Then there is Fr Bob Spitzer SJ, with whom I studied in Rome many years ago, and Fr Paul Mankowski SJ who has written some superb articles over the years. Here in England, I recall Fr Anthony Meredith SJ, the great fatherly commentator on the Fathers of Cappadocia and in Rome, there is Fr Gilles Pelland SJ, the fierce French-Canadian patristics scholar was a bit harsh when I first arrived in the Holy City, but seemed to soften a bit when after 5 years he seeme satisfied that, though English, I was not a modernist. Many of my Jesuit priest friends and mentors have now reached “that night when no man can work”...
Read more

Downloadable booklets for Vespers

Image
Gregorian Chant Hymns is a most helpful website that I mentioned in a post just over a year ago. As I said then, the site "[...] promotes the learning of Gregorian Chant by making sheet music, recordings, translations, and instructions. There is a short guide to Gregorian Notation (those square notes) and to Latin pronunciation. Everything is available free of charge, in line with other great traditional music websites." Work has continued at the site and there is now a section which makes available pdf (or .docx format) booklets for Vespers for every Sunday of the Year and a few major feasts. There is the basic booklet for ordinary Sunday Vespers which is supplemented by separate files for the Sundays after Pentecost which contain the Magnificat and Collect. Then there are booklets, for example for Advent and Lent, where the office is different from the regular Sunday Vespers with its antiphons. All of the booklets have texts and notation for Benediction and the Maria...
Read more