Spirituality, Morality & Ethics

• Deity: A supernatural being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred. Examples include God or Goddess
• Theist: A person who believes in the existence of God. They believe in heaven and in hell
• Atheist: A person who denies the existence of God. They do not believe in heaven or hell and do not accept the belief in supernatural beings
• Monotheistic religions believe that there is only one God. For example, Christians believe in 3 persons in one God
• Polytheistic religions believe in multiple Gods or Goddesses. For example, Hinduism worships Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh, and Krishna
• Deism: The belief that God created the universe but has no further interest in it. Followers do not pray for guidance, help, or care as they believe God has no influence
• Agnostic: A person who denies the possibility of whether or not a God exists. They believe that God's existence cannot be known
• Hedonist: Believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the way of life
• Some Atheists are also Secular Humanists, who believe that they can live without the help of God
• The Church attributes the development of stars and planets to God and his plan
• Scripture records: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host [stars, nebulae, planets] by the breath of his mouth" (Ps. 3 3:6)
• The Church does not have an official position on whether various life forms developed over time
• If life forms did develop, the Church believes it was under the impetus and guidance of God
• The Church allows for the possibility of human body development from previous biological forms, but insists on the special creation of the soul
• The Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God, even if the human body developed
• The Church does not permit belief in atheistic evolution
• The Church has infallibly determined that the universe is of finite age, but has not defined the exact age
• Catholics should weigh the evidence for the universe's age by examining biblical and scientific evidence
• The Catechism emphasizes the contribution of physical sciences to examining questions about the origins of the world and man
• The Catechism states that scientific studies have enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms, and the appearance of man
• There are two basic methods of reading the account of Genesis and its six days of creation: a chronological reading (fundamentalist view) and the contextual reading (contextualist view)
• Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher
• Galileo was one of the pioneers of the scientific method
• Galileo overturned the Aristotelian worldview, which explained the world mainly through logic
• Galileo proved that all objects fall at the same rate of acceleration, refuting Aristotle's claim that the velocity of falling bodies is relative to their weight
• Galileo proved that the speed of falling objects increases in proportion to the distance of the fall, contradicting Aristotle's claim that falling objects maintain a constant speed
• Galileo refuted the Aristotelian belief in Geo-Centrism, which stated that the Earth is fixed in the center of the universe
• Galileo discovered four of Jupiter's moons using an improved telescope, proving that celestial objects can orbit something other than the Earth
• Galileo's discovery of craters on the moon refuted Aristotle's theory about the metaphysical nature of the heavens
• Galileo concluded that the laws of physics apply equally throughout the universe
• Galileo's discoveries paved the way for the Heliocentric model proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus, which argued that the Earth orbits the sun
• Galileo failed to convince the Church that Heliocentrism does not contradict the Bible and was sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life
• The ban on the complete, uncensored works of Galileo was lifted in 1835
• Galileo is considered by many historians as the "father of modern physics" due to his paradigm-shifting contribution to a scientific method based on experiments
• The Church attributes the development of stars, planets, and life forms to God and his plan
• Regarding biological evolution, the Church does not have an official position on whether life forms developed over time
• If biological evolution did occur, the Church believes it was under the guidance of God
• The Church allows for the possibility of human body development from previous forms but insists on the special creation of the human soul
• The Catholic faith obliges believers to hold that souls are immediately created by God, not evolved or inherited from parents
• The Church does not permit belief in atheistic evolution