A Catholic's View on Evolution

Frequent commenter and Friend of the Blog Kevin Clark has published an article on evolution and faith in Catholic Men's Quarterly. In the article, he gives his perspective on how Catholics can reconcile the facts of evolution and their deeply held beliefs. Summary: Evolution demonstrates the power of God. The article is thoughtful and interesting. Go read it here.

A couple of notes about the article--I went to the Catholic Men's Quarterly webpage and looked at a sample issue. I was surprised to note that, unlike Gentlemen's Quarterly, there are no glossy ads or eight-page fashion layouts. Also, the blurb at the end of Kevin's article has this most interesting tidbit: "Kevin Clark lives in Front Royal, Virginia, with his wife, Laura, and their eight children." Apparently, Kevin is a practicing Catholic, if you get my meaning.

Let's Talk About Whores

Media scrutiny on Barack Obama's relationship with Jeremiah Wright has been intense and ongoing. Meanwhile, John W. McCain's acceptance of the endorsement of John Hagee has been nearly ignored by most of the media. What has Wright said that is worse than the things Hagee has claimed? Hagee refers to the Catholic Church as "the Great Whore," and repeats his assertion that Hurricane Katrina was God's revenge on New Orleans for its sinful lifestyle. How is that less crazy or less offensive than Wright's claim that the government is responsible for HIV? McCain refuses to repudiate this man. Are we talking about the same John McCain who once called fundamentalists "agents of intolerance?" Or is this someone who is willing to hop in bed with anyone to get what he wants--I believe the term for someone who would do such a thing is "whore."

Here's video, courtesy of Talking Points Memo.



Frank Rich gets it right (h/t Arkansas Blog).

The Nature of Faith

We spend a lot of time these days arguing about the relationship between science and religion, without a lot of thinking about what those words mean. Many of us in the science biz think of "faith" as belief in something for which we have no evidence, but there are other ways to think of it. Claude Scales has a thoughtful contemplation on the nature of faith on his always excellent blog.

Huckabee Suggests an End to the United States of America

Republican Nutcase Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee has declared his intention to end the secular nation that originated with the ratification of the United States Constitution. According to an article on rawstory.com:

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

All that separation of church and state stuff was overrated anyway.

The Lord Abandons the Rockies

Earlier in the playoff season, I ended a post with the sentence "Go Rockies!" It was before I had seen this article. Apparently the Rockies built their team around people who had professed their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

There's nothing wrong with attempting to sign players of good character; any business would be crazy not to want upstanding employees, simply as a way to increase profits. However, some players spoke of feeling that they were not accepted if they weren't part of a "God Squad." Former Rockies player Mark Sweeney told USA Today: "They have a great group of guys over there but I've never been in a clubhouse where Christianity is the main purpose. You wonder if some people are going along with it just to keep their jobs."

General Manager Dan O'Dowd has said that the Lord has had a hand in the Rockies' improbable run to the World Series. Maybe he needs to rethink that attitude, because if he's right, it appears that the Lord has abandoned the Rockies. Perhaps He is more interested in tolerance. Or perhaps the Red Sox fans prayed harder.

(Thanks to Wordster over at Faith-Based for the heads-up.)