Ray Curenton
@raycurenton.com
944 followers 792 following 1.3K posts
Nashville cultural worker. Singer-songwriter. Music for seekers and deep listeners, somewhere between folk and soul. (music at the link) 🏳️🌈 raycurenton.com Free Bandcamp codes: www.getmusic.fm/artists/ray-curenton
![Francisco J. Ayala:
Well-informed Catholics do not see conflict between their religious beliefs and the Darwinian theory of biological evolution. In 1996, Pope John Paul II stated that the conclusions reached by scientific disciplines cannot be in contradiction with divine Revelation, then proceeded to accept the scientific conclusion that evolution is a well-established theory.
The Pope went on to point out that science deals with material reality, while questions of "moral conscience, freedom, or … of aesthetic and religious experience, fall within the competence of philosophical analysis and reflection, while theology brings out [their] ultimate meaning according to the Creator's plans."
For more than a decade, I have taught the theory of evolution to freshmen. During the early part of the course students come to me, year after year, to express their reservations based on their perceived contradiction between Christian beliefs and the theory of evolution. I treat these students with the great respect they deserve, but respond to them with two considerations very similar to the points made by John Paul II. One is that the evolution of organisms is beyond reasonable doubt, so that the theory of evolution is accepted in this respect with the same certainty that we attribute to Copernicus's heliocentric theory or the molecular composition of matter. The second consideration is that science is a very successful way of knowing, but not the only way. We acquire knowledge in many other ways, such as through literature, the arts, philosophical reflection, and religious experience. A scientific view of the world is hopelessly incomplete. Science seeks material explanations for material processes, but it has nothing definitive to say about realities beyond its scope. Once science has had its say, there remain questions of value, purpose, and meaning that are forever beyond science's domain, but belong in the realm of philosophical reflection and religious experience.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:77edhwoj3o6fdttnn5a5vxqu/bafkreieoob6ysrw25ie3prvsa2g5kuemoa4eph3uhvgaojktchqqpwv4fi)
![Mark Noll:
Some evangelical Christians have trouble reconciling evolution and a traditional belief in God as creator and sustainer of the world, but I do not. Within the evangelical tribe, I belong to the Calvinist wing, where a long history exists of accepting that God speaks to humans through "two books" (Scripture and nature), and since there is but one author of the two books, there is in principle no real conflict possible between what humans learn from solidly grounded science and solidly grounded study of the Bible. Of course, if "evolution" is taken to mean a grand philosophical Explanation of Everything based upon Pure Chance, then I don't believe it at all. But as a scientific proposal for how species develop through natural selection, I say let the scientists who know what they are doing use their expertise and whatever theories help to find out as much as they can. On the Bible side, I do not think it is necessary to read everything in early Genesis as if it were written by a fact-checker at the New York Times. But as a persuasive basis for believing 1) that God made the original world stuff, 2) that he providentially sustains all natural processes, and 3) that he used a special act of creation (perhaps out of nothing, perhaps from apelike ancestors) to make humans in his own image, the Bible is not threatened by responsible scientific investigations.
As a historian I am impressed by words of 19th-century conservative Presbyterian, Benjamin B. Warfield: "if we condition the theory [of evolution] by allowing the constant oversight of God in the whole process, and his occasional supernatural interference for the production of new beginnings by an actual output of creative force ... we may hold to the modified theory of evolution and be Christians in the ordinary orthodox sense." These words still hold true today.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:77edhwoj3o6fdttnn5a5vxqu/bafkreigilcinvfclogc6665xbiw5khqh72yjrhccvpyeo3kicxmm7v5n3a)
![Folded (Remix) [feat. Brandy]
Kehlani, Brandy
Folded (Remix) [feat. JoJo]
Kehlani, JoJo
Folded (Remix) [feat. Mario]
Kehlani, Mario](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:77edhwoj3o6fdttnn5a5vxqu/bafkreibf664abqorxy7rycusiwmeeyjqyonagmomvy4gchpgusqyoindom)
