Christianity has evolved -- too, says columnist Dupuy

The Jersey Journal By The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal
on February 04, 2011 at 7:01 AM
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Christians were not always opposed to evolution - mainly because Christianity has progressed and made slow, significant changes over time.


So, evolution denial is a new modification for the religion.

Has the church ever been against science before? Yes. Pope Urban VIII condemned the "father of science," Galileo. But by the time of the Internet in 2008, the church decided to erect a statue of the former heretic in the Vatican. A natural selection.

There are many variations of Christians today. They all have a common ancestry but are split off into distinct groups and sub-groups; different continents and environments have forced different adjustments.

For example, in Peru the Inca had an ancestor ceremony in which at certain times of the year they paraded mummies of their dead relatives through the town square. After the conquistadors, the same ceremony was re-interpreted. Now they parade statues of deceased Catholic saints instead of the deceased revered locals. The Cathedral de Cusco hangs a painting of the Last Supper showing the Twelve Apostles eating cuy (a Peruvian delicacy of roasted Guinea pig). This is notably a behavior adaptation that isn't found in other Christ-based events.

Christianity has had its own evolutionary dead ends, too. The 19th century had the Shakers - a subset who believed in the second coming of Christ, spin dancing and absolute celibacy. The lack of procreation proved to be a real hurdle in the advancement of their kind. Thus, they're extinct.

There are also mutations of Christianity who survived because of their fitness. Islam has its common descent with Christianity - a different branch of the same religious tree, with an acknowledgement of Jesus as a prophet in the Quran. Migration and isolation spurred other mutations. Mormonism and Christian Science are native to North America.

Even the Christian Bible, the basic text of Christianity, has evolved. Bart Ehrman's 2005 book "Misquoting Jesus" masterfully documents modifications made over the millennia. In the Bible's first 1,300 years changes were made as it was copied by hand. After the invention of the printing press, the tome was subjected to translations into new languages spawned from other languages; e.g., modern English.

The point is: Christ wasn't against Darwin's theory of evolution, but some Christians clutching to alleged originalism have opted to be. It's a relatively new characteristic. And like the furry little ferret cousin, the skunk - it's also a distinctly American mutation. Other developed nations don't deny biological evolution on the basis of religion.


Not true.



So really we attend church as much as other countries - even European countries. Americans, and apparently Canadians, just lie about it in astonishingly un-Christ-like numbers.

Those same godless European countries are ALSO outranking us in science proficiency. Depending on which damning study you read, the U.S. ranks 17th to 29th worldwide in science.

Recently on Bill Maher's Real Time, Congressman Jack Kingston, Georgia-R, admitted he doesn't think he came from a monkey. Other public figures hold fast to the same conviction. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, likely candidate for president again, in the face of all evidence still denies evolution.


American Christianity eventually evolved to oppose evolution, but it's not getting more Americans to church or helping us in science literacy. Then like the other profound questions in evolution - male nipples comes to mind - what is the purpose?

tdupuy.jpgView full sizeTINA DUPUY
