Insight on the News

Life No ‘Chemical Accident’

● A letter from a Canadian reader published in the October issue of “Science Digest” magazine discussed the so-called “evolution of life.” In the light of new discoveries in molecular biology, the writer said, the “likelihood that life began as an accident is becoming more remote, if not impossible.”

To illustrate, he points out that​—even supposing the “primeval” earth had been ideally set up with an abundance of vital amino acids and that every molecule of nitrogen and of carbon on earth was part of a more complex molecule, and even with these molecules forming new compounds at the fastest rate known to chemistry—​even with all of this, the science of mathematical probabilities demonstrates that “by chance, not one recognized molecule of deoxi-ribonucleic acid (DNA [the building block of living creatures]) could be formed, even over the billions of years normally assigned to the task. Not even gas or dust clouds in outer space 20 times the mass of the sun would be sufficient. Consider, too, that not one, but quadrillions of molecules of one type of DNA are needed in a living organism. These molecules obviously have to be at the same place at the same time.” His conclusion? “Chemical evolution of life and extraterrestrial life are not true sciences.”

Contrasting Words with Facts

● “Neither violence nor revolution nor colonialism in any form will serve as methods of the church’s evangelical action.” Thus spoke Pope Paul VI in his address to a Synod of Bishops gathered in Rome to discuss “Evangelization in the Modern World.” How well do those words line up with the Church’s own record?

As noted by the Jesuit weekly “America” (October 12, 1974), they clearly contrast with Paul VI’s own encyclical of 1967 (“Populorum Progressio” [“Development of Peoples”]) in which he implied justification of “revolutionary uprising” in situations “where there is manifest long-standing tyranny.” Revolutionary Catholics in Latin America and other areas took that statement as tacit approval of their efforts to overthrow regimes viewed as tyrannical. Was the “infallible” encyclical now being corrected?

The centuries-long record of the Church’s “evangelical action,” however, provides the most notable contrast with Paul VI’s words. For it is heavily marked with violence​—in its blood-spilling crusades, its Inquisition, and its mass baptisms of native peoples facing death if they refused to accept the Church’s brand of Christianity. Colonialism obviously was used by the Church in gaining control over vast areas in Latin America and Africa.

With good reason, the article in “America” magazine raised the question as to whether “the Church itself may be, in certain circumstances, a hindrance rather than a help to evangelization or the spread of the Kingdom.”

Heart Surgery Problem

● The Bible’s references to the human heart make evident that it plays a role in people’s motivation, though the exact manner in which it does this is not spelled out. It is interesting, therefore, to read a recent report on an unusual problem that specialists in heart surgery experience.

A decade ago, according to an article in the Chicago “Daily News,” when the heart-lung machine made open-heart surgery more practicable, reports showed that “many patients were developing mental problems after spending time” on the machine. “They experienced delusions and ‘floating’ periods when they felt detached from reality. Some became delirious or paranoid . . . Anxiety, hallucinations, mood irritability, apathy and depression were common.” Currently, anywhere from 16 to 57 percent of open-heart-surgery patients have “postoperative mental aberration,” though this psychotic trouble generally passes away.

Any major surgery places a patient under considerable strain and can bring a measure of mental and emotional upset. Nevertheless, there is evidence of notably greater frequency and severity of this problem when the human heart itself is involved. One thing at least is sure: the passage of time and the increase of real knowledge will demonstrate in varied ways that confidence in the Bible is never misplaced.