The Washington herald., 1907-02-10
EVOLUTION AND RELIGION.

Il is a singular and important fact that
the Catholic Church, the stronghold Of
conservatism. should be in better position
20 accept the theory of evolution than
any other Christian organization. Two
reasons may be assigned for this. One is.
the extremely guarded attitude the Cath
Ole Church has always maintained toward
the Bible. The fundamental difference
between Catholicism and Professionalism is.
that Protestants hold the Bible TO be the
rule of faith. Catholics maintain that
tradition has equal weight with the
Scriptures. and that the Bible is not TO be
interpreted by private Judgment, but by
the authority Of the Church alone. It
claims this on several grounds. and espe-
cially on the ground that Christianity was
not founded on the Bible, as the Christian
religion was a great and powerful insti-
tuition before the Bible was in existence.
Moreover. the rarity and cost Of manu-
script Bibles and the inability of the
masses TO read, made the Scriptures sole
y the affair of ecclesiastics until 1850.
when the first Bible was printed The
natural result was that the Bible itself
came to be worshipped.
The multiplicity and variety Of un-
authorized versions of Scrlptural books.
especially Gospels, caused the Third
Council Of Carthage to be called A. d. $40.
That council proclaimed that the gospels
of Matthew. Mark, Luke, and John were
the only genuine Ones and gave a quail
fled Endorsement Of that part of the Old
Testament known as the Apocrypha. The
Bible Of to-day rests wholly upon the
authority Of the Catholic Church. which
stil claims the right to decide and inter
pref what is divine truth in the sacred
writings. This position, logically main
tanned makes 1t possible for the Catholic
Church to interpret the Scriptures as it
chooses. whether It be for or against
evolution In fact there is now sitting
at the Vatican. a commission upon the
Scriptures which may put an entirely diff
ferent Interpretation than the popular one
upon many scriptural points.
COTrespondingly, the Protestant churches
are hampered in the determination Of
scientific truth by the fundamental doc
trine that the Bible is the rule of faith.
The second reason which leaves the
Catholic free to accept the theory of
evolution IS, that the Church has al
ways taught spiritual evolution. The
whole Catholic system Of doctrine and
discipline is evolutionary, and the doe
trine Of purgatory is evolution fiat
footed Thus the Catholic Church can
and does accept evolution as far as it is
proved-for it must not be forgotten
that in spite of the rash congratulations
of Darwin. Huxley, and Herbert Spen-
Ger, and Professor Hackers wholly
unwarranted assumptions, the last word
in evolution has not been said. No
answer has been made to EgyptoIogy,
which shows that the animals and
plants of four thousand years ago
subsist without evolutionary change to
the present day. No explanation has
been given why, as Professor Agassiz
pointed out. no sign of evolution has
taken place in coral formations of
which the history is known for seventy
thousand years. No man has yet found
anything in the animal, vegetable. or
mineral kingdoms which is IN state
OF evolution.
Differentiation IS common enough:
the morse Has CAuAlSCu MS pliJSaguc dDQ
his habit. but it is a horse still and
is no nearer evolution into something
else than It was in the stone age, The
great aux Is extinct, but 10 bird IS
evolving into an aux This differentia-
ton seems TO have been COMPOUNDED by
Darwin with evolution, but more logical
minds than Darwin's have long ago
pointed out hts error. Herbert Spen-
GERS dictum Evolution Is absolute
and universal" can be conradicted
by every school boy. for one obvious
and stupendous fact Is known to oil
thinking beings-there is no evolution
in the intelligence Of animals. All animals
are gifted with a high form Of intelli-
gence suited TO their peculiar needs.
but this high form OF intelligence has