His views are more in line with a panentheist interpretation. If you'd like to stretch it than a Deist flavored one, neither of which are close to what you're saying. Evolution and the big bang are kind of functions of a system for God.
I don't see anywhere that he is saying what you think he is saying.
Evolution is proof that there is no divine plan. The idea that most religious people have when trying to reconcile evolution is either that man was always intended to appear, or that man was brought to life as is.
As a system of god?
The bible and co imagine that we were made in gods image? Is that literal or not? Because it generally means that all theists picture god as a fella with a beard.
Evolution of man is generally based on adaptation and survival. We are how we are because that is how nature essentially forged us, through natural selection. Now if you accept god set that all in motion, what does that also mean? Well, that he decided to only bring cellular life to the planet 1 billion years ago, before that, the majority of life has been single celled. In fact the vast majority of time life has had on this planet has been single celled.
Now, if you believe in a benevolent god who loves us, this is a core of Catholic dogma no? Why would god invent a sytem that, first of all meant that humans would only appear and start to believe in him (Although this is our primary function according to religious people) what, 100,000 years ago at most. Civilisation began what, 15 thousand years ago. Jews only appeard on the scene what, 5000 years ago? And yet we are told Jews are the people who discovered the real god. Jesus only enters the scene 2000 years ago.
Now, you can believe that god set all that up, with the intention that we should arrive recently. But none of that makes sense. Because if you believe in evolution of man, when did he give us souls? If you believe in real evolution, all life would have souls. God breathed life into man? He did it to a single cell in a primodial soup. But did he think 'no, no souls yet, ill wait a few billion years'? Did the dinosaurs have souls? Why did he set them up knowing an asteroid would destroy them? Did he plan that? Were the dinosaurs there to stamp down the ground abit to make room for mammals?
There are a billion things that make no sense with this view of god. A god setting up this form of evolution.
Now what about the idea, that most religious people have and had for most of human history, before Darwin, that god did as he claimed literally in the bible. He created man, adam and eve. This is obviously a direct intervention and suspension of natural law. Yet this is what people believed and believe to this day. Because the idea 'that god isnt a magician' is completely counter to what god is the definition of. Magic isnt real, yet a real magician would rely on suspending the natural law to do his 'tricks'. God would need to wave a magic wand to create man. Just like in the other scenario he would have had to waved a magic want to create teh big bang, or in most religious peoples views, create life 'from nothing'.
The view of the god in the first scenario, is a god that doesnt need to exist. Why would god need to setup these laws? beyond which, if you agree with this god, why does he suspend the natural order constantly to get out attention? How does this god meld with Jesus, the trinity, the crackers... etc... Catholics are trying to say that god is both this being beyond the natural order who often breaks it just for us. But also this god who created this uncaring mechanism called evolution that took billions of years for humans to be created. That has a 99%+ failure rate. That by the looks of it needs no divine intervention at all. But thats how he set it up?
You cant pretend science confirms your faith, then discard science when it doesnt because 'faith'.
In the mean time, the catholic church in liberia has linked homosexuality to the ebola outbreak. Along with alot of religous leaders.
Maybe instead of pretending science backs up their faith, the church could do something useful and help real humans in real trouble due to their faith.
Science backs up our faith. Condoms dont stop the spread of aids. God is a cracker. Jesus was his son.
Science is an all or nothing prospect, you either accept that evidence and fact are important, or you dont. You dont pick and choose. Reality isnt a faith.
