Argument of the Month: Should Catholics Be Intelligent Designers? April 14th

BadgerCatholic Reply: In the negative.

As prep, I highly recommend the Response of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on Genesis -- June 30, 1909.  I remembered this being covered in the Ascension Press bible study but it took me a while to find the document.

I'm pretty sure I'm going. Ken put in the email that they were now having Mass (I think EF?) at 5:30pm before events at St. Augustine.

from AOTM

Should Catholics Be Intelligent Designers?

Catholics "believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth" as the Apostles' Creed puts it. He is clearly an intelligent designer if there ever was one. But should Catholics accept the arguments advanced by the school of thought known as Intelligent Design? Are they good science? Good arguments? Do they fit with the way Catholics have traditionally thought about nature and how it reveals God to us? If no on that third point, do they contradict Catholic teaching?

Dr. Michael Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University and the author of the best-selling Darwin's Black Box and The Edge of Evolution, is one of the foremost Catholic thinkers in the Intelligent Design movement. He thinks Intelligent Design has advanced good arguments backed up by good science that comport with and support Catholic teaching about how the world provides rational evidence for God's role as an intelligent designer in the origin of species. He will argue that Intelligent Design theorists have often been misunderstood-and make the case for the solidity of ID arguments and their agreement with Catholic doctrine and thought.

Dr. Kenneth W. Kemp, a philosopher of science at the University of St. Thomas and author of numerous articles about evolution, philosophy, and theology, thinks the arguments of the Intelligent Design school for the direct role of an intelligent designer in the origin of species are not scientific arguments, are not good arguments of any sort, and don't fit with the way that Catholics have traditionally (or should now) think about nature. He will make his case for these three point and argue that, though Catholics should believe the universe as a whole is a product of Intelligent Design, they should leave ID (as an account of the origin of species) alone.

What's on the Menu

Appetizer

Homemade salsa and chips

Dinner

BBQ Pork

In addition to the pork we will be serving the kind of beans your wife and your doctor do not want you to eat! These baked beans are packed with bacon and onions! Now, no BBQ is complete with out coleslaw so there will be plenty of that and of course corn bread with a jalapeno honey glaze!

Dessert 

Fresh Baked Cookies and Ice Cream