1. Assessment
Explain Catholic beliefs about Creation / the origins of the universe. 8mks
Evaluate if Catholic beliefs about the origins of the universe harmonise with the scientific theory of the Big Bang. 15mks

2. Re-do Q1, unless you got 5 marks or above on it. Then re-do Q2
Re-do Q1, unless you got 5 marks or above on it. Then re-do Q2. If you have done both correctly, start reading about evolution.
Assessment review
Answers for No.1
Scripture: In Genesis, God commands “let there be..” so creation is
An act of decision by God, not accidental
God allows it to develop freely according to the nature He has given it (let them teem…)
By God’s omnipotent power, since nothing else existed
Made out of nothing (the earth was a formless void.)
Nicene Creed:
God made “all things visible and invisible”, meaning everything that exists is made by God.
Also, he made them “through His Son”, meaning God makes everything through the person love and understanding of Jesus
Aquinas:
Everything is contingent, and depends on something else for its existence. Ultimately this is God - God is the First Cause, the necessary being, that everything else depends on for its existence
Augustine:
God made everything ex nihilo
He made everything by his own power
He did not make creation out of his own substance, so creation is not divine
Creation is natural
Chesterton
Says that Creation has a plan and a design. It has a beginning, middle and end, like a story, so it also has a purpose and plan.
Answers for No.2
Christian beliefs about Creation do harmonise with the scientific theory of the Big Bang because…
- Genesis also says that everything began out of nothing. Augustine also says it was ex nihilo. The Big Bang theory says it began from a tiny point of singularity that suddenly appeared in the universe. There was nothing else.
- There is no cause for the Big Bang.Genesis also says there was no cause, only God’s act of decision.
- creation is natural and physical. Augustine also says it is natural, because it was not made out of God’s substance.
On the other hand
If you take Genesis literally, it doesn’t fit with the scientific account.
eg order of events in Genesis does not fit - plants made on day 3 while sun only on day 4.
everything took millions of years to develop, but Genesis suggests it happened in a matter of days.

3. Catholics do NOT take Genesis literally, therefore they do not believe that….

4. Genesis and Evolution
Explain if you think the genesis accounts are scientific accounts, with an example
Explain how you think humans got to be on earth
**Who was Darwin? What did he discover? Explain it.
Watch the video to find out.
How did we get to be here? The Book of Genesis has two stories about it:
Gen 1: the 7 days of creation: man made on 6th day with all the animals
Gen 2: the creation of man from dust, and woman from his rib.
Are these true scientific accounts? (why/ why not?)
How do you think we, humans, got to be the way we look today?

5. Who was Darwin and what did he discover?
What did he discover about the turtles on the Galapagos?
What were the 2 parts of his theory? Explain
Natural selection
Common descent

6. Choose then write out the correct sentences, to explain how evolution works
**According to evolution, what is it that makes creatures change?
Select the correct answers, to explain how living creatures are the way they are today
That living creatures change over time
That God destroyed some creatures in the past (dinosaurs) and keeps making new ones from scratch (humans, poodles)
That living creatures were created as they are today
That living creatures change by natural selection
That only the fittest survive and reproduce (natural selection)
That man today is the same as he was thousands of years ago
God made all creatures and humans in one day (day 6) and all animals have been on earth for the same length of time
That nature is difficult, and only the creatures with the best features to survive in a particular place, reproduce
The best adaptations are passed on in a more and more significant way, so later generations appear different from earlier ones
That humans can be traced back to ape-like creatures
Common descent means that all living organisms can be traced back to a common ancestor, from which they later diverged by natural selection

7. Evolution Mutations Adapt Picks out Generations Natural Selection
a _________ process by which successive_________of creatures change and develop, to better _______ to their environment.
The changes happen by genetic ________ and natural _______
Natural selection _____________the best genetic mutation to pass on.

8. How did these animals get to be the way they are? Did God make them?
Write down one example of a feature that evolved by natural selection
Explain why it might have evolved in this way
*Draw the animal and label one of its evolved features..
Cave fish – no eyes

9. So what about humans? Did we evolve, or were we made by God?

10. What Catholics believe
No conflict
Evolution doesn’t explain spirit
Genesis humans were made either on day 6 (Gen 1) or from dust/ woman from a rib (Gen 2) but Catholics do not take this story literally. Find out how some Popes explained the way that evolution and religion relate: Pope Pius XII: 1939 John Paul II 1978 Pope Francis 2013
Body is by evolution
Special creation
Genesis not literal
Not magic/ miracle
1. Make notes to explain what the 3 Popes said about evolution & the creation of humans.
2. So what do Catholics believe about evolution & the creation of humans? Summarise it.
** Are they taking Genesis literally? Explain.

11. What Catholics believe
Genesis humans were made either on day 6 (Gen 1) or from dust/ woman from a rib (Gen 2) but Catholics do not take this story literally. Here is how some Popes explained the way that evolution and religion relate: Pope Pius XII: “there is no conflict between evolution and the doctrine of faith” because science and religion are explaining different types of thing – biology explains the physical, and religion/ philosophy explain the spiritual. Biology cannot explain what free will, goodness and self-awareness actually are. For this we need religion and philosophy, not evolution. John Paul II taught that the theory of evolution explains how man’s physical body of man evolved from previous ancestors, but not how man became a spiritual creature, because this was by a gift from God. God created man’s soul by an act of Special Creation. God’s spirit in man did not evolve out of matter. Pope Francis has recently said, that “God was not a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so. He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws He gave them.”

12. So what do Catholics & Christians believe about the creation of humans
So what do Catholics & Christians believe about the creation of humans? What is “special creation”?

13. True or False? The human body evolved to be the way it is today
The human soul evolved by evolution
The Church teaches that God created creatures by a miracle on the 6th day as it says in Genesis
There is a conflict between Church teaching on creation and evolution
Evolution is a completely natural process
The Catholic Church denies evolution is true
The Church teaches the theory of Special Creation
The Popes say that evolution cannot explain everything eg why he has a soul
God chose to create his creatures by the laws of evolution

14. Cartoon Strips – do one of them
Scenario 1:
a Scientist says that everything about humans was made through evolution.
what does the Catholic reply?
Scenario 2:
A Creationist says that Catholics are bad Christians for not believing the Genesis as literally true in a scientific way.
Scenario 3:
A scientists says Catholics are silly for believing that God made all creatures on the 6th day
What does a Catholic reply?
Discuss with your partner –what would a Catholic reply?
Draw cartoons to show this discussion

15. Exam Question
Describe the teaching of the Catholic Church on the scientific theory of evolution. 5mks
2/3 page long.