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The Unicorn in the Sanctuary: The Impact of the New Age Movement on the Catholic Church QUOTES

The Unicorn in the Sanctuary: The Impact of the New Age Movement on the Catholic Church QUOTES

1 " The view of the Catholic Church on biological evolution has been cautious. In Humani Generis, Pius XII permitted discussion of evolution by competent thinkers, but warned against any presumption that evolution has been proved true, "as if there were nothing in the sources of Divine Revelation which demands the greatest moderation and caution in this question". Pius XII's caution was justified; since his death the theory has had some resounding problems. "

― , The Unicorn in the Sanctuary: The Impact of the New Age Movement on the Catholic Church

2 " Despite evolution's scientific mantle or the latest court decision, the theory is proving increasingly faulty with each passing decade. In light of the New Agers' preoccupation with personal experience, evolution may be the only belief that New Agers take on faith, because it has never been observed to occur, and the scientific evidence needed to support it does not exist. "

― , The Unicorn in the Sanctuary: The Impact of the New Age Movement on the Catholic Church

3 " When Darwin's Origin of Species was published in 1859, paleontology was in its infancy, the fossil record as yet unexplored. The years have been cruel to the theory of gradual evolution. The process of natural selection requires a slow, progressive period of development, a period during which the evolving organism, throughout successive generations, grows legs or wings or whatever.

There are two problems here. One is that the fossil record shows no gradual development from lower organisms to higher. Rather, it shows that species generally unchanged throughout time. Those represented in the most ancient fossils are basically indistinguishable from their descendants living today. The fossil record shows creatures that suddenly appear in the world, without apparent ancestors. Some become extinct, while other survive unchanged. The theory demands that there should be transitional forms between evolutionary developments, some sort of creature destined to become a bird whose forepaws are halfway toward becoming wings. Yet evidence of such transitional forms is missing, hence the term "missing links". (This leads to the question how one can build a theory around evidence that is "missing", but apparently that is only a minor difficulty for evolutionists.)

The second problem is the supposed mechanism by which evolution is powered. Mutations (which do occur, but are nearly always detrimental) cause changes in the organism, and those which are favorable are retained through natural selection. How, the, does a lizard evolve a leg into a wing? After all, what is the advantage in half a wing? Even granting that natural processes might favor an ability to fly and thus preserve this lizard-becoming-bird - how did the lizard even survive three million years while he was dragging around forelimbs no linger fit for fighting or running, but not yet able to lift him in flight? (chapter 1) "

― , The Unicorn in the Sanctuary: The Impact of the New Age Movement on the Catholic Church