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Vatican: Faithful should listen to science; ...and vice versa.
Topic Started: Nov 3 2005, 10:55 AM (161 Views)
The 89th Key
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I think this is a great step. Although it sort of reminds me of Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons". :)

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/03/D8DL5LTO4.html

Vatican: Faithful Should Listen to Science
Nov 03 1:45 PM US/Eastern

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY

A Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores scientific reason.

Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the Pontifical Council for Culture, made the comments at a news conference on a Vatican project to help end the "mutual prejudice" between religion and science that has long bedeviled the Roman Catholic Church and is part of the evolution debate in the United States.

The Vatican project was inspired by Pope John Paul II's 1992 declaration that the church's 17th-century denunciation of Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension." Galileo was condemned for supporting Nicolaus Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun; church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

"The permanent lesson that the Galileo case represents pushes us to keep alive the dialogue between the various disciplines, and in particular between theology and the natural sciences, if we want to prevent similar episodes from repeating themselves in the future," Poupard said.

But he said science, too, should listen to religion.

"We know where scientific reason can end up by itself: the atomic bomb and the possibility of cloning human beings are fruit of a reason that wants to free itself from every ethical or religious link," he said.

"But we also know the dangers of a religion that severs its links with reason and becomes prey to fundamentalism," he said.

"The faithful have the obligation to listen to that which secular modern science has to offer, just as we ask that knowledge of the faith be taken in consideration as an expert voice in humanity."

Poupard and others at the news conference were asked about the religion-science debate raging in the United States over evolution and "intelligent design."

Intelligent design's supporters argue that natural selection, an element of evolutionary theory, cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms.

Monsignor Gianfranco Basti, director of the Vatican project STOQ, or Science, Theology and Ontological Quest, reaffirmed John Paul's 1996 statement that evolution was "more than just a hypothesis."

"A hypothesis asks whether something is true or false," he said. "(Evolution) is more than a hypothesis because there is proof."

He was asked about comments made in July by Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, who dismissed in a New York Times article the 1996 statement by John Paul as "rather vague and unimportant" and seemed to back intelligent design.

Basti concurred that John Paul's 1996 letter "is not a very clear expression from a definition point of view," but he said evolution was assuming ever more authority as scientific proof develops.

Poupard, for his part, stressed that what was important was that "the universe wasn't made by itself, but has a creator." But he added, "It's important for the faithful to know how science views things to understand better."

The Vatican project STOQ has organized academic courses and conferences on the relationship between science and religion and is hosting its first international conference on "the infinity in science, philosophy and theology," next week.
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bachophile
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HOLY CARP!!!
a voice of reason...

congrats to Poupard.
"I don't know much about classical music. For years I thought the Goldberg Variations were something Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg did on their wedding night." Woody Allen
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Yep.

Quote:
 
Monsignor Gianfranco Basti, director of the Vatican project STOQ, or Science, Theology and Ontological Quest, reaffirmed John Paul's 1996 statement that evolution was "more than just a hypothesis."

"A hypothesis asks whether something is true or false," he said. "(Evolution) is more than a hypothesis because there is proof."


I cite irreconcilable differences.
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The 89th Key
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I think both sides need to act with more flexibility. I think evolution is real in some aspects. I think intelligent design is also real.

They can co-exist, believe it or not.
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
I might actually be so crazy to propose they're the SAME THING!
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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The 89th Key
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Interesting thought...except for the whole "God" part!
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The 89th Key
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I know what you are saying though...no worries.
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bachophile
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HOLY CARP!!!
hey 89th, u were the one who was insulted about the idea of man evoluting from monkeys.
"I don't know much about classical music. For years I thought the Goldberg Variations were something Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg did on their wedding night." Woody Allen
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The 89th Key
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Still am.

I don't take evolution that far.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Quote:
 
Interesting thought...except for the whole "God" part!


If there is a God, wouldn't he be likely to pick an elegant solution to the development of all of His creatures? What could be more elegant than natural selection? I've always been completely baffled by the resistance to evolutionary theories by some Christians. As far as I can see it's only a problem if you believe in the literal truth of the bible, which most people don't. Just because we evolved doesn't mean there's no God.

For the record, evolutionary theory doesn't say we evolved from monkeys, rather that we share a common ancestor.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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The 89th Key
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John, I can very much agree to some of that. I agree it could be possible for God to create both natural selection OR create the world in an instant with the natural process already working, etc...

Basically, the reason I don't believe in natural selection (to the level that we came from a single celled organism, etc.) is because I can not see evolution producing such items as our nervous system, heart, brain, ears, eyes, reproductive system, human body, etc. Not to mention the microscopic phlagellum argument, which is the strongest, but also the longest. :P
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