Seth Shostak Quotes
Charles Darwin sailed around the world for two years on the 'Beagle,' and he had quite a bit of interest in things like the iguanas of the Galapagos, even though they were primitive compared to your average Englishman.
Shostak, Seth. Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. National Geographic Books, 2009.
The Pope went on to state that Evolution was consistent with Roman Catholic doctrine, changing a position that had been taken by the Catholic Church and many fundamental protestant denominations. A few actually still reject evolution even after all the evidence and proof of the basic Darwinian theses. There is nothing in evolution that per se denies the existence of God or even that God created the universe and the mechanism of evolution. That is why the Catholic Church and so many Protestant Churches, Judaism, Buddhists, and so many other religions have no theological problem with evolution. Those religious groups who have difficulty with evolution are those fundamentalists (Protestants, Jewish and Muslims) who believe in the literal truth of Holy Scripture. They also assume that God designed each particular plant or animal species. Other religions hold that it was God who created the mechanism of evolution and that is how all the species developed and are developing today. Some religious evolutionists believe that evolution is God’s mechanism for perfecting man.
The Anglican Church of England like many others were originally threatened by the possibility of evolution. Darwin, himself a very religious man was castigated at the time. In modern days the mass of scientific evidence of evolution is overwhelming and most major religions have also learned that there is nothing inconsistent or threatening in this basic science. There are however some religious fundamentalists (mostly Christian and Muslim) who still reject this basic scientific notion, but this quotation represents most of the modern religious thinking.
This is another oft quoted statement of Darwin’s. The phrase “by the Creator” is often cited to show that Darwin did not preclude the role of a prime mover of God in the process. God may have started the system going and created the laws of evolution and physics and then the world evolved. At the time, most religious authorities believed that the only way for a new species to exist is if God created the species. Darwin was trained in theology and was extremely sensitive to the effect of what he discovered on the religious leaders and believers of his day. However, this quotation is particularly interesting because the phrase “by the Creator” never appeared in his original manuscript, nor did it when the bombshell book was published. There was great excitement and great religious opposition to publication which Darwin had delayed for years. The mention of the Creator never appeared in the first 5 printings. Only in the 6th printing did it appear.
Seth Shostak is an American astronomer and author, and is currently the senior astronomer for the SETI Institute.
