Many of us are often in awe at science and technology, and what they have meant to the world and allow us as human beings to do.  The aeroplane, the telephone, the Internet, motor vehicles, medical cures and testing equipment are just some of the things that many of us take for granted, but which represent the great things that science and technology are able to facilitate. 

The Church embraces science and technology.  It sees human ability to use science and technology as a sign of God’s greatness.  “The results of science and technology are, in themselves, positive.

“Far from thinking that works produced by man's own talent and energy are in opposition to God's power, and that the rational creature exists as a kind of rival to the Creator, Christians are convinced that the triumphs of the human race are a sign of God's grace and the flowering of His own mysterious design”.

The fact that human beings are able to think of, imagine, create and invent things that previously were beyond our own comprehension indicates that God did design human beings to have dominion over the universe; and that he did create them in his image and likeness.  Basic scientific research, as well as applied research, is a significant expression of man's dominion over creation.

Science and technology are great things and should be used to service human kind and promote the holistic development of each individual in the society. 

The use of science and technology must guarantee the human person his undeniable human rights, and must be in conformity with the plan and the will of God.

“The Council Fathers also emphasise the fact that “the greater man's power becomes, the farther his individual and community responsibility extends”, and that every human activity is to correspond, according to the design and will of God, to humanity's true good. 

In this regard, the Magisterium has repeatedly emphasised that the Catholic Church is in no way opposed to progress, rather she considers “science and technology are a wonderful product of a God-given human creativity, since they have provided us with wonderful possibilities, and we all gratefully benefit from them”.

For this reason, “as people who believe in God, who saw that nature which he had created was ‘good', we rejoice in the technological and economic progress which people, using their intelligence, have managed to make”.

We must however remember that, science and technology on their own, are meaningless.  They get meaning through man’s ability to utilise them for the improvement of human kind. 

Because science and technology can only be effective through the human input, it therefore must be subject to the human being’s moral values. This is able to put their purpose and their limits in context. 

Next week we look at science and technology in relation to the environment and agriculture.

For persons interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, please contact the Justice Desk, Archbishop’s House at 622-6680. 

Also on sale at the Justice Desk are the “Take a Bite” Social Justice Programme on DVD and the Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching.