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Thread: Are most Catholics creationists?

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    Stegodon
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    Default Are most Catholics creationists?

    The Sixty Minutes piece on Bobby Jindal mentioned that he believes in, among other things, creationism. This fits in will with his predictable views on abortion and stem cell research, of course, but I'm wondering if this is a common belief held by catholics or the Catholic Church. I'm not now, nor have I ever been a catholic, but I was married to an active one for 21 years and attended church with her on a regular basis. As such, a lot of our friends were also of that faith. But I never got the impression that thinking catholics put a lot of credence in the creationist viewpoint. Perhaps the subject just wasn't brought up that often.

    My present spouse is a long-lapsed catholic who no longer holds any of the dogmatic precepts of the faith, but she was raised in a household that adhered to the church teachings. She says she's never known another catholic who believed in the creationist nonsense. So is Jindal typical in this belief or is he pandering to the base?
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    Indifferent to bacon Julie's avatar
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    Default Re: Are most catholics creationists?

    I've never met a creationist Catholic. I'm not saying they don't exist, but I've never met one (that I recall).

    I grew up Catholic in a Catholic family, mass every week, Sunday school, Notre Dame, etc.

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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Are most catholics creationists?

    I was raised Catholic, and I never met a creationist who was Catholic. In fact, I think I distinctly remember reading that the creation story was just that.

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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Are most catholics creationists?

    The Catholic Church has accepted evolution, as guided by God, for some time, so Catholics aren't under any pressure to deny it. It's not a prominent part of Catholic culture at all, though I'm sure some small pockets exist.

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    Quixotic Elixir Guinastasia's avatar
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    Default Re: Are most catholics creationists?

    Nope-I was taught about evolution in grade school-a CATHOLIC grade school. In fact, my first grade teacher, an old school nun who still wore the habit (although not the long one), just told us that God made the Garden of Eden in six days-not Earth itself. And in fourth grade my science teacher was a nun and she had a guest speaker from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History come and demonstrate how the Earth took billions of years to form and all that.
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    Elephant
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    Default Re: Are most catholics creationists?

    It surprises me that Jindal is a creationist, if only because he's got a bachelor's degree from an Ivy-league university. You'd think he'd know better.

    That said, I'm sure there are Catholic creationists, but offhand, I can't think of any besides Jindal. Airman's grandfather was a lifelong devout Catholic, yet he had a PhD in microbiology, taught at Pitt for most of his life and did some of the research on the tobacco mosaic virus that led to the discovery of (IIRC) the Salk polio vaccine. He believed in evolution and had no problems reconciling that with his faith.

    [mod boots ON] Since this thread is about religion, I'm going to move it over to Great Debates.[/mod boots OFF]
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  7. #7
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Are most Catholics creationists?

    My extended family is Catholic, and they all think creationists are kind of nutbar. My grandmother in particular is especially devout, and whenever something about creationists comes on, she goes, "I just can't understand these people."

    Catholics are generally pretty accepting of science. They're not really about biblical literalism.

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    Libertarian Autocrat Vox Imperatoris's avatar
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    Default Re: Are most catholics creationists?

    Quote Originally posted by MsRobyn
    It surprises me that Jindal is a creationist, if only because he's got a bachelor's degree from an Ivy-league university. You'd think he'd know better.
    His former Biology professors have apparently petitioned him to change his stance. And no, most Catholics are not creationist. The Pope himself acknowledges the truth of evolution (I like that phrasing better than "believes in").
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    The Apostabulous Inner Stickler's avatar
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    Default Re: Are most Catholics creationists?

    I have a couple of cousins who are Catholic creationists. Really they'd be happier as fundies but they started out as Catholics and are too attached to papal authority. I'd make comments about worshiping false idols but then I remember the line about wrestling pigs.
    I don't think so, therefore I'm probably not.

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    Default Re: Are most Catholics creationists?

    This is just further proof that Jindal is an idiot.

    I'm no longer a practicing Catholic, but I'm from a large Catholic family, and as a teenager was fairly active in CYO (Catholic Youth Organization). I've known a pretty diverse range of Catholics, but I've never known one who seriously believed in Youth Earth Creationism.

    On several occasions, I've heard Catholic priests explicitly say that you shouldn't take the Book of Genesis literally.

    I'm sure Jindal isn't the only creationist Catholic in the world, but overall he's part of a tiny and fairly inconsequential minority.
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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Are most Catholics creationists?

    I bet for Jindal's reason for that belief is political. That belief sells pretty well around there.

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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Are most Catholics creationists?

    Quote Originally posted by don't call me shirley
    I bet for Jindal's reason for that belief is political. That belief sells pretty well around there.
    Yes, I think most of his choices are political. He was born Hindu, and decided that Christianity went down better in the US -- with the Catholic brand being more popular in Louisiana. He supports creationism, because most of his desired base does, even though it's not a common Catholic position. He's probably very bright, but he dumbs down things for his desired audience. Unfortunately for him, while his brown skin is electable in Louisiana (which has an ethos all its own), it probably isn't on the Republican side of politics in most of the rest of the South.

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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Are most catholics creationists?

    Quote Originally posted by MsRobyn
    It surprises me that Jindal is a creationist, if only because he's got a bachelor's degree from an Ivy-league university. You'd think he'd know better.

    That said, I'm sure there are Catholic creationists, but offhand, I can't think of any besides Jindal. Airman's grandfather was a lifelong devout Catholic, yet he had a PhD in microbiology, taught at Pitt for most of his life and did some of the research on the tobacco mosaic virus that led to the discovery of (IIRC) the Salk polio vaccine. He believed in evolution and had no problems reconciling that with his faith.

    [mod boots ON] Since this thread is about religion, I'm going to move it over to Great Debates.[/mod boots OFF]
    Thanks. I couldn't decide which forum was most appropriate, since it contained and asked for opinion and didn't really put forth any argument.

    It would appear that my suppositions were correct: most catholics do not subscribe to creationism, and Jindal is just another political demagogue with aspirations to the White House. And he obviously subscribes to the adage about fooling most of the people most of the time.
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    Quixotic Elixir Guinastasia's avatar
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    Default Re: Are most Catholics creationists?

    Catholicism really isn't big on Biblical literalism, nor sola scriptura, either.
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    Default Re: Are most Catholics creationists?

    Purely anecdotal but a large portion of my extended family are creationist Catholics. My cousin once asked me about evolution and how it related to Genesis and her that it wasn't to be read literally. Everyone in the room looked at me like I had grown a second head and my Grandmother promptly told me I was under Satan's spell.

    I think their creationism comes from my grandparents who should basically would be fundie evangelicals if they didn't enjoy doing shooters of Jesus blood on Sundays. It was always understood you didn't question your parents in my extended family so creationism I think just trickled down to even the younger ones who should know better but can't fathom that mommy and daddy maybe don't know everything.

  16. #16

    Default Re: Are most Catholics creationists?

    FWIW (well a lot inside Italy and throughout the inner circles of Catholicism).

    VATICAN CITY, OCT 23, 1996
    Quote Originally posted by Pope John Paul II
    "'Humani Generis'," he stated, "considered the doctrine of 'evolutionism' as a serious hypothesis, worthy of a more deeply studied investigation and reflection on a par with the opposite hypothesis. ... Today, more than a half century after this encyclical, new knowledge leads us to recognize in the theory of evolution more than a hypothesis. ... The convergence, neither sought nor induced, of results of work done independently one from the other, constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory."

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    You'd all be very surprised... I'm a Catholic creationist, and I know a good few Catholic creationists in Ireland, and those who are not creationists, certainly question the certainty of evolution. For more on Catholic creationism check out these 2 site: www.daylightorigins.com & www.kolbecenter.org

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    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    I think it depends on which country you come from. But in general, the answer is still no.

    Most Catholics I know are quite happy with evolution as a guiding principle. Then again, we gave Darwin to the World.
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    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    Yeah growing up in (Catholic) Ireland I don't ever recall creationism being much of a thing. The Old Testament etc. were treated more like interesting stories in religion class rather than the literal truth of the universe.

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    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by CatInASuit View post
    ...Most Catholics I know are quite happy with evolution as a guiding principle. Then again, we gave Darwin to the World.
    Much to his wife's dismay!

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    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by The Original An Gadaí View post
    Yeah growing up in (Catholic) Ireland I don't ever recall creationism being much of a thing. The Old Testament etc. were treated more like interesting stories in religion class rather than the literal truth of the universe.
    As near as I've been able to tell, it looks like most of the recent gains creationism has made in Ireland have been the result of American organizations trying to get their viewpoints legitimized. I don't know about other countries, but every time I read anything regarding something about creationism in your part of the world, it can be traced back to Americans starting it.

    And then I feel bad.
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

  22. #22
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    It makes sense, the main promulgators of it here, typically in the north, have close links with evangelicals in North America.

  23. #23
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    That does make sense. I had seen some stuff about evangelicals gaining traction in Northern Ireland. If that's the case, anything that might spread would probably come through that way and so share the same influence.

    The incident that stands out in my mind was the recent kerfluffle over the Giant's Causeway.
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

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