Going The Distance - Patrick Madrid

The Orgin of Specious Reasoning
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun - now let's get Darwin!

Von Goethe said, "There is nothing more awesome to witness than the unchecked flight of naked ignorance." I'm not exactly sure who Von Goethe was, but the man sure could crank out a sound byte. In this issue you're treated to a critique of Darwinian evolution that should put to unchecked flight all those - naked, ignorant, or whatever - who cling to the evolution party line. In our cover story, "Apes 'R' Not Us," acclaimed writer and annoyer of Evolutionists George Sim Johnston reveals the flaws and inconsistencies in the theory of Darwinian evolution. His basic argument: There is no scientific evidence to support the view that humans descended from apes. You get the facts about Darwin, evolution, and what the Catholic Church teaches about the origin of man. Evolution is a particularly important subject these days, since Pope John Paul II, in recent months, was almost universally misquoted by the media as saying in an address to scientists that evolution is "more than a theory." The Catholic Church's teaching has not changed, and the facts presented in this article make a nice banana peel for you to toss under the foot of the next evolution zealot you meet. In related news, check out "At Ease" (page 64) for info on a new movie that's more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

And don't give me any of those Watchtowers!

In the "Nuts & Bolts" department of our Premiere Issue we featured an interesting picture of a man standing at the door, staring at a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses. The scene was actually a photo shoot done for Envoy. The man at the door is Travis; the couple at the door portraying Jehovah's Witnesses are Elvira and JosŽ (NFP instructors for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe). The reader response to this photo was so strongly positive I thought I'd share with you a couple of other possible scenarios we considered for that picture:

My Scenario:

Travis doesn't actually live in the home whose door he's opening. He's a thief with a tattoo and a gun and he smokes and he probably wears those really ugly, black, steel-toe work boots that thieves and such like to wear. Anyway, ten minutes earlier, he jimmied the back sliding glass door and was in the house looting up a storm, loading his van with middle-income plunder, when the doorbell rang. The look on his face says it all. The Witnesses at the door are interested in "sharing the truth" with him - he's trying to decide whether he should allow any witnesses to his crime.

Matthew Pinto's Scenario:

Travis does live there. He's Catholic. It's Christmas morning - his wife and children are in the living room unwrapping presents, celebrating the birth of the Lord. The Jehovah's Witnesses at the door are Travis's mom and dad. They fell away from the Catholic Church several years ago. And while they don't celebrate Christmas, their grandchildren's birthdays, or any other holiday, they just happen to be in the neighborhood at 7:00 that morning "sharing the truth" with folks. The look on Travis's face says it all. His parents won't visit for Christmas, but they will visit on Christmas to tell him why the Bible says they can't visit for Christmas.

Kinsey Caruth's Scenario:

Travis is a Jehovah's Witness. He opens the door to find two Catholic missionaries on his doorstep, Bibles in hand, sharing the Truth with him. These same Catholics converted his wife to the Catholic Church some months ago (hence the crucifix on the wall behind him), and they're back to evangelize him. The look on his face says it all. These two Catholics read Envoy magazine, so they're well-prepared for their door-to-door apostolate. They're charitable, know their Bible well, and convincing. Travis isn't used to being on the other side of the door.

Read it and weep

A friend sent me an e-mail message recently containing the following tragic but true account:

"I saw this in the magazine Public Square. Two pregnant women - one was told that her baby had Down syndrome, and the other was told her baby was fine. The first woman had an abortion. Then it turns out the lab had mixed up the tests. In fact, the first woman's child was completely healthy and the child of the second woman, a Miss Michelle Woods, had Down syndrome. So she, too, had an abortion, at 20 weeks of pregnancy. The British Daily Telegraph reported the reflections of Miss Woods on all this: 'I don't know if the other lady already had children, or if this was her first and they'd been trying for ages. I feel ever so sorry for her because she suffered much more than I have. If she hadn't had the termination, she would have had a perfect baby, and I would have had a Down syndrome girl in January, when I was expecting a healthy boy."

A major apostolate turns ten

Catholic Answers, the nation's longest-running, full-time apologetics apostolate is celebrating its tenth birthday this year. Under the leadership of Karl Keating, the San Diego-based group has, for the last decade, been the touchstone of Catholic efforts in the United States to win over non-Catholics to the Faith. Keating launched Catholic Answers in the mid 1980s as a part-time apostolate to counteract the virulent Fundamentalism he encountered in his area. He started by composing and distributing a series of 12 tracts refuting Protestant charges against the Church. The rest was history. Shortly after the tracts began to circulate, Catholics were clamoring for more. In 1986 Keating launched Catholic Answers, the first "hardcore" newsletter of Catholic apologetics. By the end of 1987 the venture had become a full-time endeavor. In January 1988, the first two full-time staffers were hired - I myself was one of them. Since then, Catholic Answers has grown to a staff of ten, boasts a sizable apologetics resource catalogue, and fields This Rock, the apostolate's monthly magazine. I credit Karl more than anyone for sparking the renaissance of Catholic apologetics in this country. He was instrumental in launching the rescue of apologetics from being submerged in the backwash of the "pastoral" silliness that spewed across this country in the 70s and 80s. His book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism (Ignatius Press, 1988) is an apologetics classic. To subscribe to This Rock magazine or to send a donation to help the work of Catholic Answers, contact Karl Keating at P.O. Box 17490, San Diego, CA, 92740, (619) 541-1131 voice, (619) 541-1154 fax. Visit the apostolate's web site at http://www. catholic.com. Above all, keep these valiant Catholics and their work in your prayers.

Where's Carl Sagan when we need him?

Okay, okay, I know Pierre Salinger went and messed up the Internet's credibility (as it were) with his recent "I Stand By My Story" report of alleged military hijinks that led to the TWA Flight 800 Disaster last summer - a report based on the electronic road kill he scraped off the Information Superhighway. But still, I think the following "news item," sent to me the other day over the Internet, is worth sharing. I warn you, though, the following account contains graphic discussions of mathematics and physics. Read with caution. This is a true story. A thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question: "Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with a proof." Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: "First, we postulate that if souls exist, they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant. So, if hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose. Of course, if hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over." It was not revealed what grade the student received.

We'll give you a "cooling off period" even if you aren't American

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