This book was written for two purposes: First, to educate the public at large by a critical examination of science and history, especially in the areas of cosmogony and cosmology. Although modern science purports to know the origin and operation of the universe, in reality it comprehends very little and actually spreads more falsehood today than it does truth. On its face, modern science is the last formidable bastion of secular society. It is touted as impregnable and invincible. Indeed, today’s scientists have the education, the grants, the sophisticated equipment, the iconic image, the universities, the newspapers and the general media on their side. Opposing voices can barely form a whisper of contention. It is truly a Goliath if there ever was one in our modern age and it is as big as the universe itself.
Second, this book contends with Catholics, and anyone else, who have accepted the major teachings of modern science and thereby have rejected either biblical revelation, the traditional ecclesiastical consensus, or the official magisterial statements that disagree with modern science’s theories or conclusions. As one can see by the title, I have chosen to focus on the recent book by Fr. Paul Robinson, The Realist Guide to Religion and Science. He is a priest of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a very conservative but embattled branch of Roman Catholicism. The reason he was chosen is normally we don’t see many examples of staunchly conservative Catholic groups being unduly influenced by the theories of modern science to the point they either reject or neutralize the biblical, traditional and magisterial teachings. If there is any group of Catholics from whom we could expect a rigid traditional Catholic view of either the Bible or its interpretation, it is the SSPX, at least in its beginnings under its founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. But like many conservative groups today, the inevitable tendency is to judge scientific issues according to the world’s “status quo” and to avoid being dubbed “Fundamentalist.”
Fr. Robinson’s book, insofar as he represents the SSPX, has proven to be no exception. A good friend of mine who is a priest in the SSPX confided the following to me:
Let me just note that being in the SSPX for over 35 years now, there have always been priests who did not accept 6-day Creation, and who would not even have considered geocentrism as an option, and who were open to certain forms of evolution. The SSPX has always been a mix of ideas of everything that was still considered orthodox in the 1960s. Those in authority have feared to accept new creationist and geocentric proofs which have come forth since the 60’s, and have willed to keep a 60’s – 70’s mentality, despite new proofs, or have not been willing to consider as serious science anything which has come forth from geocentric or creationist arguments. I know, however, several priests open to geocentrism, etc., in the SSPX. You will also note that Father Robinson’s book was curiously published by Gracewing publishers and not an SSPX publisher such as the Angelus Press. Perhaps Father Robinson wanted a wider readership, at the same time Angelus Press might have realized that such a book would rock the boat among SSPX faithful.1 In light of the burgeoning advances of modern science, any religious group—whether liberal, conservative or somewhere in between or to the extremes—must eventually confront today’s scientific claims since a good portion of science overlaps with biblical revelation, especially in the areas of cosmogony and cosmology. In most cases, the Bible says one thing and modern science says the exact opposite. What is the good Christian to do?
For now, they do a similar thing to what is suggested in Jesus’ parable about the seeds. Some will outrightly reject the Bible’s testimony; some will accept the Bible’s testimony, but only under certain conditions or limitations; and some will accept the Bible in toto and use what they can from modern science to verify it.
Whereas Catholics of two to three generations ago were holding to the tradition that accepts all of the Bible’s testimony as true and trustworthy, most of our generation has rejected that belief. A high percentage of our Catholic institutions of higher learning, including our seminaries, no longer believe the Bible is inerrant, especially in its historical narratives and cosmological perspectives. As noted, one such person is Fr. Paul Robinson. Although his book rightly chastises modern science for going overboard in its more speculative theories, we find him accepting many of its more popular theories, in whole or in part, with hardly a concern that these theories go directly against the clear revelation of Scripture, as well as the patristics and official statements of the magisterium. My educated guess is that Archbishop Lefebvre would see things quite differently than what Fr. Robinson presents in his book, especially if Lefebvre were educated to the true nature of modern science and how the best of modern science can be used to support the traditional views of Catholicism
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Scientific Heresies and their effect on the Church