What is Digg?644 Comments
- rdean1970, on 10/10/2007, -29/+431I have a new respect for the Pope after reading this. Science and Religion are not mutually exclusive and I think it is awesome that someone like the Pope would acknowledge this.
- duqit, on 10/10/2007, -18/+273Even the friggin Pope gets it. I hope every Evangelical nut job is listening....
- rberk72, on 10/10/2007, -21/+152Great article, the Pope has done a very important thing here. Science considered the idea that our universe had a beginning abhorrent until the evidence for the big bang became overwhelming. It's a shame that too many people on both sides are making the mistake of concluding that science and religion are coming into greater conflict, when in reality they are becoming much more harmonious.
- trghpy, on 10/10/2007, -14/+129Too bad many Evangelicals are protestant.
- HouseofEl, on 10/10/2007, -3/+102While this is good. It's not exactly new. The Vatican has taken this stance for years now.
- ghm101, on 10/10/2007, -5/+101Pretty sure that this message is not some new policy on evolution by the pope, just a restatement of the pro evolution, pro science position held by the catholic church for years.
- davdev, on 10/10/2007, -6/+83Doesn't really surprise me. I am atheist now, but my High School and College were both Catholic, and there was never any question in any of my science courses that Evolution through Natural Selection was the prevailing explanation of how life evolved and the Big Bang was how the universe formed.
It has been my experience that of all the Christian Sects, the Catholics tend to be the most rational and tend to accept scientific discovery. I have never met a Catholic that actually believes in Adam and Eve, or Noah's flood. - osirisothedead, on 10/10/2007, -6/+75Evangelical nuts already consider Catholicism to be heresy. This'll just bolster their position, unfortunately.
- Hetman, on 10/10/2007, -15/+79as John paul II said. Truth cannot condradict truth. There is room for evolution and creationism. However Creationism must be taught in church or in a religion class at school. It cannot be taught alongside science in the classroom.
- frostieDude, on 10/10/2007, -6/+63To be fair, I'm not particularly adamant about wvolution either.
- Homunculiheaded, on 10/10/2007, -5/+55I'm not Catholic but I've always liked Benedict XVI. I don't think he has the public charisma of John Paul II, but really is an intellectual with a very serious background in theology. Contemporary theology is not 'how many angels on the head of the pin', it involves pretty serious crtical analysis of scripture, and I'm sure that any athesists here who approached some one like Benedict XVI with their beliefs wouldn't be shot down with a 'you infidel!' but would probably be able to engage in a pretty thoughtful discussion. It's too bad that foaming mouth fundamentalists have really co-opted the face of world religions, all of which have very rich intellectual histories that are easily silenced by 'Science is the devil!'.
- emanggid, on 10/10/2007, -6/+51yes. ghm101 is right - this is not new.
when i got married i remember going through the long talk about faith with our monsignor, and he specifically said that "catholics believe in a different evolution theory, not the creationist one. we believe in science and religion. We believe, just like science, you form your beliefs based on a collection of facts and observations."
he explained to me how you build belief system based on history, facts, all this stuff, just like science, but then you make a jump to faith at the top, because you don't understand it, but you base it all on what you can understand.
he was a great, smart guy. - jdc760, on 10/10/2007, -3/+48EVERY evangelical is protestant.
- broXc, on 10/10/2007, -7/+43It really is absurd wasting time arguing over it.
This is the first time I've ever heard a religious figure of the Pope's stature say that evolution can coexist with faith. +1 for the Pope in my book. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -19/+52I disagree. Science take evidence and attempts to understand it. Religion takes evidence and attempts to fit it into their already formed world view.
- Dralha, on 10/10/2007, -3/+35Evangelical nut jobs do not consider the pope to be an authority figure, nor do they consider catholicism to be a valid form of christianity. They will dismiss the pope's writings in the same breath that they dismiss all the evidence for evolution.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -6/+31I'm glad someone's saying this. I've been saying it for ages. Hell, I can take a Bible, open it to Genesis and point out specific passages where scripture shows that, unless you're a Bible Literalist, God could have easily used the Big Bang and evolution as His tools for creation.
- inactive, on 01/21/2009, -4/+26Probably because they understand the stories in the Bible are meant to teach morals, and aren't to be taken literally like so many extremists do. If you read the book in that mindset, you can see that it is a worthwhile read meant to demonstrate ethical values.
- aliengoods, on 10/10/2007, -8/+30When they tell me it's not a sin to use a condom, I'll start listening.
Oh, that's right. The creator of heaven and earth has his divine plan stopped by a few millimeters of latex. - wendelgee2, on 10/10/2007, -4/+23All, actually. By definition.
- TwistedRonin, on 10/10/2007, -4/+23My thoughts exactly. Creationism just doesn't belong in a science classroom. Science is about reasoning, logic, experimentation, observation, and theories based on said scientific principles. Creationism is based on virtually no scientific principle, only faith.
- joebob, on 10/10/2007, -9/+28An interesting statement..
You went to chuch for an open minded attitude on various things that religion/fundamentalist views are largely responsible for creating the negative viewpoint to start with. - AlienShe, on 10/10/2007, -10/+28You, sir, are an intellectual midget.
- Mullinator, on 10/10/2007, -12/+30As an atheist I really feel disgusted when I see other atheists look down and and insult other belief systems. It is extremely hypocritical to proclaim any belief system that persecutes others as a problem and then go ahead and do it yourselves. Religion breeds conflict when it involves people who believe without question that they are right. There is absolutely nothing stopping Atheists from doing the exact same thing. Just want people to understand that.
- rabidg00se, on 10/10/2007, -6/+22Yeah man, don't be a douche.
- zyl0x, on 10/10/2007, -6/+22Wow, finally an issue I can agree with the Pope on. Mark your calendars.
- InvisibleMan, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17Catholics are older and know better from experience. The church use to hate all kinds of science hundreds of years ago, but long ago the church realized there is no reason there should be a conflict between science and religion. Keep in mind the Catholic faith is 2000 years old (aprox. 1950 years if you go from Peter starting a universal (Catholic) religion) and in that time the religion has gone through a lot. But the Catholic religion does change, all be it slowly, and update itself. Now its pretty 'modern' but not too modern as to toss away all its traditions and it has kept its core beliefs. I have always view other religions, even Islam, as being a little too young and still learning how to be less like war propaganda and more like a social belief structure.
- Me1000, on 10/10/2007, -4/+18it amazes me how little people here understand the catholic faith.
This is nothing new. The church has openly accepted evolution (in the form of natural selection) for many years! - timbellomo, on 10/10/2007, -4/+18JPII also stated that the two are not mutually exclusive, which is good, cause I'm a Catholic that believes in evolution.
Besides, theres the whole Fr. Georges Lemaitre thing... - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -9/+22The day that Creationist stop lying and misrepresenting Evolution is when I respect them. I can respect a Creationist who keeps their believes personal but not those who try to push their believes into the public realm.
- omikun, on 10/10/2007, -3/+16"but then you make a jump to faith at the top, because you don't understand it"
I've always wondered, why do you need to believe in anything if you don't understand how or what happened in the very beginning? Is there a need to think you "know" what caused life when you really don't? Atheists: no. Theists: yes. I think that's the fundamental difference. - legislate, on 10/10/2007, -3/+16This isn't groundbreaking. Plenty of pastors, priests, reverends, etc. believe in evolution. It is good though, to hear the pope speak out on it.
- 4040, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Yeah, I see what you
- NSMike, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Yeah, Evangelicals within the Catholic church are called Charismatics. Which really doesn't make any sense to this Catholic, considering that evangelists are rarely charismatic.
- LosingTheFight, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Despite not recognizing him as infallible or the only mediator between men and God, we do respect his thoughts and views. We don't automatically block him out simply because he is the Pope...
- Lynx34, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Actually it's not so much praying to saints so much as it is asking the saints to pray for us. Same goes for Mary. Catholics don't worship these people, they ask that prayers be made for them. From a purely Catholic standpoint, there's a large difference.
- Gaki, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Bollocks, all of it.
The "war" was not started by the Atheists or the Evolutionists, it was started by the Catholic church, unless the revisionists are attempting to go back into history to show how bands of Atheists held mock trials and burned the religious at the stake for their mistaken beliefs about the Earth being the center of the Solar System or the Earth being flat. People DIED because the Catholic church wasn't willing to accept science's findings, not the other way around. The reason Evolution was banned at one point was not because the theory held little scientific value, but because of intense opposition by religious groups to exclude it ... just a continuation of the anti-science bias that's been around since the Middle Ages.
Secondly ... we can watch evolution happening right now. We know the mechanism (DNA, RNA), have the human genome mapped and will learn about the individual genes over the next 50 years. The riddle of "how" is almost completely solved at this point, so it doesn't matter how ridiculously small these folks think the odds are of it happening ... because it happened. I say "think" because the universe is infinitely large and even something so amazingly rare as to have 1^-40 chance of happening is guaranteed to happen in some spot in the 'verse. It's a virtual certainty. - Yonson, on 10/10/2007, -6/+18Pope Respect++
- jjed824, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15"Please try to find ANY definition of religion that doesn't claim to directly answer scientific questions. "
Umm...Lets try Merriam Webster:
Main Entry: re·li·gion
1 a : the state of a religious b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
"And then find a religion that doesn't directly violate contemporary scientific knowledge. "
Umm...Catholicism (see TFA for proof) - jedikv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11I went to a Catholic school and a multi denominational Christian School - Creationism was not mentioned once in the science classes.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13You have no idea what you're talking about do you?
- asaturn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12so uh where is this scientific evidence for creationism that you speak of? because I've never seen it... I don't think anyone has actually... Jesus? is that you?
- Leomarth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11So the Pope segued from evolution to environmentalism? Interesting.
- kelbear, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Again, keep it in your church. Enjoy your belief by all means. Faith is a wonderful thing to have, you don't have to make it mine.
Schools are a secular place for secular learning. Unless you welcome bringing /every/ religion's faith into a school...we damn well should stick to no religions in school. - Dracker, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Dugg your comment for truth, but the Pope is going against this view of religion with this quote about evolution - he's accepting science's explanations for life and evolution, instead of denying scientific theories in the face of overwhelming evidence. That's the point of the article.
- allahuakbar, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13Well put brother. I went to parochial schools myself, and regarding science they never tried to deny it like the Pat Robertson idiots around us.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12Throkdin has posted the classic Creationist/ID piece of crap. It shows their complete and utter lack of understanding of evolution and their willingness to misrepresent facts and outright lie. There is no such thing as irreducible complexity and all the so-called examples in this piece of spam has been explained by biologist.
- timbellomo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11it was more than an "admission" -- he straight up said that if you don't listen to the evidence on Earth, you're a fool.
- sgtbutterscotch, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13You and your black and white world. Tsk tsk
- aadnk, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11I think the people in "Jesus Camp" (and those alike) should really read this.
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