Much
modern intellectual debate, particularly within the popular arena, centers on disputes between religion and science
over such seminal issues as creationism versus evolutionary theory, or theological explanations of the origin of the universe versus the «big - bang theory» of the new
cosmology.
And the fact is that two Catholic priests, Gregor Mendel, O.S.A., and Georges Lemaitre, were pivotal figures in creating two of the most important scientific enterprises of the twenty - first century:
modern genetics, which is giving humanity previously unimaginable powers
over the human future; and
modern cosmology, which is giving us glimpses of the universe in the first moments of its existence.