Discussion for article #229421
Not really news. Not a change in Catholic doctrine whatsoever.
12 Likes
Nothing new here; I was taught this in Catholic schools years and years ago. Most of my friends and acquaintances, Boomers all of us, were taught the same thing (and we attended different Catholic schools together!)
4 Likes
The Creation Museum in Kentucky begs to differ and will charge you only $29.95 per person to find out more.
8 Likes
Granted, but given the assault on science and reason these days it might bear repeating
14 Likes
Catholics haven’t opposed evolution for decades. That is an evangelical thing. They think of God as a magician and of the bible as being a simple minded recitation of facts.
4 Likes
Right…because religion can keep moving the goal posts ad infinitum. Whenever and wherever science reaches its limit and can no longer provide answers, that’s where religion steps in and says “because magic sky person.” Why evolution? Because God. Why a Big Bang? Because God. What was there before the Big Bang? God and his blueprints. And so on and so forth. Some day they’ll figure out where the Big Bang came from and what was there beforehand and then religion will just say “yeah, but God before that.”
“God is not a divine being”
Am I reading that right? The Pope said THAT? That might actually be pope malpractice.
4 Likes
This just a restatement of current Catholic doctrine. It would be welcome news if certain Catholics like Michael Behe (of ID fame) actually listened this time, but I am not holding my breath on that.
3 Likes
Catholics are not creationists.
5 Likes
As a person who grew up Southern Baptist, I’m blown away. What the Pope has expressed here is something many Christian progressives believe and it’s wonderful to hear a Christian leader express as much. Shoot, maybe I’m really just Catholic at heart.
8 Likes
What you know about religion would fit in a thimble, and leave room enough for an elephant. Please stop spouting ignorant nonsense.
1 Like
Betcha you’re wrong. You haven’t the slightest clue about my upbringing and education. Given the denial of absolute physical spacial relationships in your response post, I’m guessing you’ll be off somewhere looking for that elephant next. Try the strawberry patches…GOPers/Teatrolls love looking for them hiding in there.
So the Big Bang theory and the concept of a sky daddy who created the Big Bang can go hand in hand? So which Big Bang created the creator? Science is the study of everything and every force from the infinitessimally small to the infinitely large of all solar universes out there. Just what size is the Catholic god? Science has no evidence nor any observation of such a god anywhere in all the scientists have studied and observed over the centuries. So what’s this Pope’s evidence for a creator god, other than something he was taught to believe in his head?
1 Like
He’s the Pope, did you really expect him to come out in jeans and a tee-shirt and call the whole catholic thing off?
From his views and statements on accepting gays, wealth distribution, equal pay, health care, etc, it’s a nice direction to try and take a major religious institution in.
6 Likes
The Big Bang certainly doesn’t contradict Catholic theology. The idea came from a Catholic priest, Georges Lemaitre. It is Genesis revisited: out of nothing, something. It is contradicted by evidence, including new evidence from Rosetta about the rocky composition of comets, new evidence from Cassini showing an electrical connection between Saturn and Enceladus, and the failure of the core-accretion theory of planet formation. The Big Bang requires imaginary constructs (dark matter and dark energy) that have never been observed. The Big Bang allows us to think ourselves smarter than those religious folks, while we tell ourselves the same bedtime story. Meanwhile, the evidence gathers for a new paradigm.
Might be news to non-Catholic Christians who’s last good news was from 2 millennium ago.
I wonder also how this will play with politicians and talking heads who are not Scientists or Doctors or Theologians, but seem to know better than those actually trained and experienced in those fields.
1 Like
I always wondered why this benevolent and omniscient god didn’t turn us on to forced-air heat and indoor plumbing until fairly recently.
It’s basic survival and hygiene for christ’s sake.
2 Likes
that’s nice, but I am not particularly concerned about what the Pope or any other religious leader thinks about science. They do not seem particularly concerned about what I think about the non-existence of their deity, after all.
3 Likes
That is exactly the point. The Pope’s reiteration of what to many of us seems logical still needs to be heard by MANY of the ultra-right Christians who view their beliefs in simplistic and exclusionary terms.
6 Likes
Agreed, and I think this can help overcome for some the conflict between religion and science.
They are two different spheres: science investigates that which can be observed, proven, and repeated.
Religion is/was a way of explaining the world using myths, fables, parables and other stories to help impart moral lessons.
Creation and evolution can be reconciled, at least metaphorically:
God created the universe, but it is a work in progress. Creation is still unfolding, and we, who were created in God’s image, have a role to play in loving each other, in healing the sick and tending to the poor, and forming a more perfect union, a more just society.
Or, to take from the Lord’s Prayer: On earth, as it is in Heaven.
2 Likes