Introduction:
The progress of science and technology has such an impact on our
lives today that we can no longer imagine how to live without it. Not only
that, the development of one's country and the value of one's life is also
calculated according to how a country or a person has made progress and
achievements in science and technology. One thing that science and technology
have left behind and will not deviate from in the years to come is in the
circle of faith.
And this article will deal with one of the most famous and
challenging theories "Theory of Evolution" proposed by Charles Darwin
which has confused the religious community especially Christians and Islam.
1. Historical encounters between science and Christian faith:
The concept of "science" and "religion" is a recent
invention[1]. During the ancient and medieval periods, "scientia a
religio"[2] were not understood as doctrines, practices, or true sources
of knowledge[3]. The concept of science and religion received its modern
form[4] in the 19th century[5][6]. We are so well acquainted with the fact that
industrial civilization is the product of applied science. However, when we
talk about science, we tend to feel a shudder of wonder[7].[8]
1.1. The conflict of science with religion:
the conflict between science and religion erupted over geology.
This was due to the idea that the world we live in is much older than
Christians claim, and that creation did not end with the seven days of
Genesis.[9]
1.2. The Current State of Science and Christianity:
There was a time when a great medieval university could be
composed of those who unreservedly accepted the full inspiration of the Bible
and its reliability in all matters pertaining to nature. If we were to visit a
faculty meeting of a European university a hundred years ago, the situation
would be somewhat different. Among them could be materialists and atheists, as
well as men of art, letters, and science who were devout believers who trusted
what the Bible said about nature. And if we were to visit modern universities,
we would find that significantly more than ninety percent of the faculty are
nominally religious people. And not a single firm believer can be found who is
trustworthy for the Scriptures. So from medieval universities with
Bible-believing faculties, we have now reached the point where very few modern
universities have Bible-believers in their ranks.
The battle to maintain the Bible as a respected book between
learned scholars and the academic world was fought and lost in the nineteenth
century. Copernican astronomy did not begin to influence human thought as an
event in the nineteenth century, as the anti-biblical and anti-Christian
movements became rampant during this period.[10]
2. Charles Darwin[11] Evolutionary Theory[12]
Darwin wrote two papers in 1842 and 1844 explaining his idea of
evolution, but these two papers were not published. Darwin completed "On
the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection". Darwin's main
argument in his book was not the evolution of life or the origin of life as
such, but the diversity of species as a result of modification by natural
selection. His main intention was to demonstrate that the doctrine of
constancy[13] of species was not scientifically acceptable and that
transmutation[14] and speciation[15] occurred and is occurring. It is argued
that all species descended from a common ancestor; were not created
independently or together at the same time, transmutation[16] occurred,
resulting in the evolution of new species.
Darwin's most famous theory was what he called "natural
selection", and according to this theory, evolutionary change comes about
through the production of variation in each generation and the differential
survival of individuals with different combinations of these variable traits.
Individuals with traits that help their chances of survival will have more
opportunities to reproduce, and their offspring will also benefit from the
heritable, advantageous character. So over time, these variants spread through
the population. Natural selection can eventually give rise to new species. Increasing
the body's ability to adapt to changes in the environment will help it survive
and produce more offspring. Those species that can best adapt to the changing
climate and environment will survive, take on new forms and change to suit the
environment. In this way the process of evolution continues.
The mechanism of natural selection has three basic elements:
a) Existence of variation between individuals of any species.
b) Some of the differences that distinguish one organism from
another are heritable, that is, they can be passed on from parent to offspring.
c) This individual of this heritable variation affects its chances
of survival (fitness) and is therefore likely to produce its own offspring.
According to Darwin, these three terms – variation, heredity and
differential survival – are general requirements for the process of evolution
by natural selection. According to him, organisms with suitable variations will
survive, while an organism without a favorable variation will become extinct.
The main features of Darwin's theory of evolution can be
summarized as follows:
a) Organisms are descendants of one or more common ancestors and
have diversified from this original stock.
b) Species come and go through time, while they exist, they
change.
c) Diversification of life consists in the fact that individuals
of one species diverge until they become two separate species; this has
probably happened billions of times on earth.
d) Evolutionary change occurs through successive small changes in
populations; that is, it takes many years for a new species to be born.[17]
e) Evolutionary change occurs through variation between
individuals; some variants give an individual an extra chance of survival.
Nature selects the best adapted species to survive and reproduce; so the
process continues indefinitely. Because there is fierce competition for
survival among individuals in each generation, and because all individuals are
not such that those with the advantage of variation are more likely to survive
and those with the advantage of variation are more likely to survive and those
with the disadvantage variations will be removed.
3. The reaction of Christians to the theory of evolution:
Darwin's theory of evolution raises three theological problems:
1. First, Darwin's theory refuted the idea that creatures were
individually designed by God and that the diverse organisms we have today were
there from the beginning.
2. Second, the earth and the creatures on it were very old
compared to the time line suggested by the chronology in the Bible and that no
literal reading of the Scriptures could be consistent with the scientific
account.
3. Third, although Darwin did not explicitly mention how human
beings evolved in his Origin of Species, which he did in his book The Descent
of Man, published in 1871, twelve years after The Origin, it is assumed that
apes and people share a common ancestor. This goes directly against the
biblical account of humans, created distinctly by God in his image, to have a
unique position among all creation.
are some of the important issues that arose from Darwin's theory
that require a theological answer, either to say that Darwin was completely
wrong in his assumption, or that we must reinterpret the Bible in the light of
evolutionary science. Then and now, Christians around the world are not united
in their response to the theory of evolution.
Among Roman Catholic theologians, there is a wide range of
reactions to Darwin's theory of evolution. Cardinal Newman noted that he did
not consider Darwin's theory of the evolution of organic beings to be
incompatible with the divine plan.
Another Roman Catholic theologian, Joseph Scheeben, stated that
any theory of evolution, not just Darwinism, that includes human evolution is
heretical.
According to E. C. Messenger of Louvain, a clergyman writing in
1949 on the position of the Roman Catholic Church,
Most theologians until recently rejected any form of evolutionary
theory, even of plants and animals. A different attitude is certainly desirable
and would at least have the merit of wholeheartedly acknowledging that science
as well as theology reveals the truth about God and the world he created.
The Roman Catholic Church began to take a different position,
admitting that evolution could be an indirect mechanism for the creation of the
body, but refusing to extend the argument to include the creation of the soul.
In 1950, Pope Pius XII. he dealt more specifically with the
question of human origin in his letter to the bishops entitled "Humani
Generis", which can be summarized as follows:
a) The Church does not prohibit research and discussion on the
doctrine of evolution, if it requires the origin of the human body as coming
from pre-existing and living matter.[18]
b) However, Catholics must believe that the human soul was created
directly by God.
c) All people come from an individual, Adam, who transferred
original sin to all of humanity. And therefore Catholics do not necessarily
believe in "polygenism"[19].
The Church of England initially reacted strongly against Darwin's
theory of evolution. Most members and clergy rejected Darwin's theory, but
liberal Anglicans strongly supported Darwin's natural selection, saying it was
an instrument of God's plan.
A famous confrontation took place in Oxford in 1860 in a public
debate during a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science. The Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, argued against Darwin's
theory, while Thomas Huxley was a major proponent of Darwin's theory. The
famous debate ended in an exchange of sharp words. After explaining his
positions at length, Wilberforce turned to Huxley and asked him if he was
descended from a monkey on his grandfather's or grandmother's side. Huxley
responded with equal sarcasm, saying that he would rather have an ape as his
ancestor than a man who abused his position to attack a theory he did not
understand.[20]
Conclusion:
Darwin's theory of evolution has caused much debate in religious
communities such as Christianity and Islam. The literal rendering of both the
Genesis creation story and Darwin's theory of evolution seems to miss the
reality of the origin of species and their subsequent evolution. We can
conclude by stating that evolution did take place and is still taking place, of
course not exactly as proposed by Darwin, which led to the extinction,
modification and formation of some species. But there is a God who created
things to evolve and guided the entire process of evolution. Thus, the belief
that there is an intelligent omniscient and omnipotent creator and that the
soul-endowed human being is a unique creature created by a creator God for a
purpose should not be considered incompatible with a belief in evolution and an
old earth.
[1] ‘Religion’ emerged in the 17th century in the midst of colonization, globalization and the protestant reformation, ‘Science’ emerged in the 19th century in the midst of attempts to narrowly define those who studied nature. And the term ‘Science and Religion’ emerged in the 19th century due to reification of both concepts. It was in the 19th century that the term ‘Buddhism’, ‘Taoism’, and ‘Confucianism’ first emerged.
[2] The Latin roots for ‘science and religion’.
[3] Rather, they were understood as inner qualities of the individual or virtues.
[4] With new titles emerging such as ‘biology’ and ‘biologist’, ‘physics’ and ‘physicist’ and so on. Institutions and communities were founded, and unprecedented interactions with other aspects of society and cultured occurred.
[5] The term scientist was first coined by the naturalist-theologian William Whewell in 1834 and it was applied to those who sought knowledge and understanding of nature.
[6] Neha Arora, Religion and Science(New Delhi: University Publication, 2017), 14, 15.
[7] As if it were the god or demon which had thus terrifyingly created a new world.
[8] Charles E. Raven, Christianity and Science (Norwich: World Christian Books, 1956), 19.
[9] Raven, Christianity and Science…, 10.
[10] Bernard Ramm, The Christian View of Science and Scripture(Michigan:
Eerdmans publishing co., 1960), 17, 18.
[11] Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) was an England born naturalist whose scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies.
[12] Darwin formulated his bold theory in private in 1837-39, after returning from his voyage around the world aboard, but it was not until two decades later that he finally gave it full public expression in On the Origin of Species 1859, a book that has deeply influenced modern western society and thought. The book became very popular and it went through sixth editions in Darwin’s lifetime.
[17]RodinmawiaRalte, The Interface of Science and Religion (New Delhi: Christian World Imprints, 2017), 39-41.
[18]RodinmawiaRalte, The Interface of Science and Religion (New Delhi: Christian World Imprints, 2017), 42-44.
[19] The scientific hypothesis that humankind descended from a group of original humans.
[20]RodinmawiaRalte, The Interface of Science and Religion (New Delhi: Christian World Imprints, 2017), 44-45.
 Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution){kind=link}
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