Science and the Catholic Church

Interesting isn't it?  When it comes to science and the Catholic Church there can be a tendency to assume conflict - well look at the Galileo affair!  Hold on a mo... wasn't that settled when ol' Gal won the day?  In fact it wasn't just the Catholic Church insisting that ol' Gaileo' was wrong... so were cosmologists at the time. 'Prehistoric Scientists' they may have been, but they were scientists and they were also just as wrong.  Galileo was right.  The idea that there's some kind of clash between the Church or Christianity in general and science is the kind of thing you can expect from a tanked-up atheist, but it's not the kind of thing a well informed Christian should be spouting.

Ever hear of the Augustinian Brother Gregor Johann Mendel?  No?  Ever hear of Genetic Science?  Brother Mendel is responsible for Genetic Science.  Now there's a surprise, a Religious Brother being responsible for modern Genetics... and here's the man himself (pictured).  Prior to Mendel and for a few decades after, a wide variety of theories about heredity proliforated.  Mendel's book (1866) on pea plants was re-discovered by Hugo de Vries, Carl  Correns and Eric von Tschermak and by 1915 the basic principles of Mendelian genetics had been applied to a wide variety of organisms, especially the fruit fly.

And if you think that's all, well think again.  There's more.  Here come's a shock for those who love to express scientific criticism of Christian belief.

Now I bet you haven't heard of Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître! Or maybe you have...  He's a Belgian priest and scientist who proposed a theory long ago that fellow scientists jokingly referred to as "The Big Bang" Yep, it's that theory - the one about how the universe originated.  Not taken too seriously at first and criticised even by Eienstein, he was later to be proven correct in his postulations.

The links are provided for additional information on these lads.  But let's not miss the point.  It is abundantly clear that the Catholic Church takes science seriously and this has always been the case, despite one slip-up with Galileo who was proven correct.

Look further back in history and you will find that many of the great centres of learning in Europe were established by Celtic monks from the great Abbey's in Ireland and Britain.  Christians have nothing to fear from science, although science may fear the moral consciousness imposed by Christianity.  When we ask the scientist, "Hey mate, don't you think the two-headed sheep is pushing the limit a bit?"  We just may have a point and the scientist may not like that.

Criticise Christians if you want to - just don't use science to do it.  That's not going to work because we've a whole pack of scientists who are commited Christians to set on you. (Loud Rastberry).