More good news I think.
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Vatican Astronomer: Intelligent Design Not Science
Friday, November 18, 2005
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VATICAN CITY The Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that "intelligent design" isn't science and doesn't belong in science classrooms, becoming the latest high-ranking Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States.The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was "wrong" and was akin to mixing apples with oranges.
"Intelligent design isn't science, even though it pretends to be," the ANSA news agency quoted Coyne as saying on the sidelines of a conference in Florence. "If you want to teach it in schools, intelligent design should be taught when religion or cultural history is taught, not science."
His comments were in line with his previous statements on "intelligent design," whose supporters hold that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power.
Proponents of intelligent design are seeking to get public schools in the United States to teach it as part of the science curriculum. Critics say intelligent design is merely creationism a literal reading of the Bible's story of creation camouflaged in scientific language, and they say it does not belong in science curriculum.
(Story continues below)
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In a June article in the British Catholic magazine The Tablet, Coyne reaffirmed God's role in creation, but said science explains the history of the universe."If they respect the results of modern science, and indeed the best of modern biblical research, religious believers must move away from the notion of a dictator God or a designer God, a Newtonian God who made the universe as a watch that ticks along regularly."
Rather, he argued, God should be seen more as an encouraging parent.
"God in his infinite freedom continuously creates a world that reflects that freedom at all levels of the evolutionary process to greater and greater complexity," he wrote. "He is not continually intervening, but rather allows, participates, loves."
The Vatican Observatory, which Coyne heads, is one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world. It is based in the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.
Last week, Pope Benedict XVI waded indirectly into the evolution debate by saying the universe was made by an "intelligent project" and criticizing those who in the name of science say its creation was without direction or order.
Questions about the Vatican's position on evolution were raised in July by Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn.
In a New York Times column, Schoenborn seemed to back intelligent design and dismissed a 1996 statement by Pope John Paul II that evolution was "more than just a hypothesis." Schoenborn said the late pope's statement was "rather vague and unimportant."
They are stupid by choice, and they sure as hell ain't going to let a pesky thing like reality get in the way of their practicing their stupidity.
If you're going to do religion, that really is a fucked up way to go about it.
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JooJooFlop had this to say about Optimus Prime:
Headline: Majority Of American Christians Say "Vatican Schmatican"
A) Christians and Catholics are pretty different. Catholics like Christians, Christians hate Catholics.
B) The Vatican isn't really an entity that issues edicts and expects them to be obeyed. Catholics don't really tend to follow the Vatican or the Bible to the letter like fundies.
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A sleep deprived Pvednes stammered:
Catholics are Christians, though Christians aren't necessarily Catholics.
Pretty much.
They think we're a cult.
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We were all impressed when Mr. Parcelan wrote:
B) The Vatican isn't really an entity that issues edicts and expects them to be obeyed. Catholics don't really tend to follow the Vatican or the Bible to the letter like fundies.
That's only true for America and some in Europe. The Holy See's words and edicts carry a lot of weight in South America especially
