Tag Archive for science

It’s A Fallen World (Scientifically, That Is)

April 19, 2016 Intellectual Formation No comments

Christian theology can fit in science, art, morality, and the sub-Christian religions.  The scientific point of view cannot fit in any of these things, not even science itself.  C.S. Lewis I understand the fascination with all things scientific; as a young man I particularly loved the hard sciences.  I subscribed to Scientific American and even took a post-graduate class in advanced Thermodynamics, just because it was pretty cool stuff (back when partial differential equations didn’t look like Sanskrit to me).  Even today I have a book about special relativity on my Kindle.  But the greatness of  science lies in its

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Spurious Language

August 21, 2015 Moral Action No comments

While reading Timshell’s recent post Words Have Meaning, it reminded me of an article I came across in the National Catholic Register regarding the specious terminology used in conjunction with stem cells. They focused on the recent stories of two sports heroes who were used to grab headlines. The first was legendary hockey player Gordie Howe who apparently made a remarkable recovery from a stroke after receiving a stem cell treatment in Tijuana, Mexico. The media initially reported that “only adult stem cells were used in the injections”. However, a tenacious sports reporter, Brent Schrotenboer, from USA Today, revealed that

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A Review of ‘The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels’ by Alex Epstein

July 24, 2015 General Interest, Intellectual Formation 2 comments

“There exists a certain reciprocity: as we care for creation, we realize that God, through creation, cares for us. On the other hand, a correct understanding of the relationship between man and the environment will not end by absolutizing nature or by considering it more important than the human person. If the Church’s magisterium expresses grave misgivings about notions of the environment inspired by ecocentrism and biocentrism, it is because such notions eliminate the difference of identity and worth between the human person and other living things. In the name of a supposedly egalitarian vision of the “dignity” of all

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Manhattan Monkey Trial

June 19, 2015 General Interest One comment

GENESIS 1:24-28 Then God said: Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: tame animals, crawling things, and every kind of wild animal. And so it happened: God made every kind of wild animal, every kind of tame animal, and every kind of thing that crawls on the ground. God saw that it was good. Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on

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Genesis and Genetics: the Same Truth

June 10, 2015 Intellectual Formation, Moral Action One comment

Last week I finally had the chance to watch the film Noah.  Admittedly I had already read the very positive review by Steven Greydanus on his DecentFilms site, and so I felt predisposed to not hate it.  In fact, I didn’t hate it, but I’m not sure I’d give it an “A-” either. Be that as it may, it re-ignited a line of thinking that I’ve discussed with friends over the last few years, of how the story of Creation and Fall contains wisdom that can inform our post-modernity arrogance, especially that of atheistic science.  Many of us have dismissed the

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Exit Stalin, Enter Stenger. Further Reflections on Atheistic Materialism

March 30, 2014 Intellectual Formation No comments

As I read the linked material in Didymus’ post, I remembered and dug out this thin little pamphlet that I had found tucked into my copy Our Bishops Speak, which is a compilation of the letters and reports of the American Hierarchy during the first half of the 20th century.  The pamphlet is a reprint of the 1954 Statement from the bishops.  Note the emblazoned subtitle, the words of which sparked my memory:  Great quote from the bishops (14 signed the Statement)… “Shallow men prattle of a shadowy world spirit or essence of things; of a dim projection of the ego, of a hypothetical construction

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The Birds and the Bees– and the Zygotes

July 1, 2013 Intellectual Formation, Moral Action One comment

The more science reveals about the universe to us, the more our Catholic faith is verified. No one in the junto, indeed no faithful Catholic, will learn anything new about the immorality of abortion from this post.  However, I would like to challenge us to reject even our own inclinations to regard some abortions as worse than others.  Without this, I fear our ability to save millions of human lives is diminished.  Most of us are moved more deeply by what is more tangible, and it might not be surprising that our stomachs turn at the thought of the surgical-suction procedure applied

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