with Pope Pius XII's encyclical Humani Generis, took up a neutral position with regard to evolution. "The Church does not forbid that...research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter." In an October 22, 1996, address to the Pontifical Academy of Science, Pope John Paul II updated the Church's position, recognizing that Evolution is "more than a hypothesis" - "In his encyclical Humani Generis, my predecessor Pius XII has already affirmed that there is no conflict between evolution and the doctrine of the faith regarding man and his vocation... Today, more than a half-century after the appearance of that encyclical, some new findings lead us toward the recognition of evolution as more than an hypothesis. In fact it is remarkable that this theory has had progressively greater influence on the spirit of researchers, following a series of discoveries in different scholarly disciplines." Islamic views on evolution Classical figures have not discussed the subject as it has only come up in the 19th century. Contemporaries have come up with several distinct stances. One stance is that adaptation, or evolution on a micro scale, is accepted within a species, but cross-species evolution, that is evolution from one species into another species, is not as the human beginning is considered to be miraculous. However, this traditional thought would not conflict with the view that human-like beings could have been created around the same time as human beings, which, in this view, would explain the fossil records that look human but are not. Another stance is that since evolution is the simplest explanation it is the most reasonable to accept under the condition that it is not random but occurs only with the permission of God every step of the way. One particular argument that supports the idea that evolution is possible is the one stating that in that the stages of human development in evolution are akin to the distinct stages of development acknowledged in the Koran. The final stance completely rejects cross-species evolution across all organisms, but approves of adaptation (micro evolution). Jewish views on evolution Evolutionary theory and the political left In 1861 Karl Marx wrote to his friend Ferdinand Lassalle, "Darwin’s work is most important and suits my