Vatican Official Refutes Intelligent Design
Nov 18 11:55 AM US/Eastern
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By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY
The Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that "intelligent design" isn't science and doesn't belong in science classrooms, 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.
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."
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:04 pm Posts: 39920 Gender: Male
Someone mind telling me what intelligent design is exactly. I just assumed it meant that a higher being created matter, but I guess I'm missing something is people are this pissed off about it.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:56 pm Posts: 19957 Location: Jenny Lewis' funbags
godeatgod wrote:
Someone mind telling me what intelligent design is exactly. I just assumed it meant that a higher being created matter, but I guess I'm missing something is people are this pissed off about it.
It's the opposing theory to evolution and the "big bang" theory. It's not creationism like Adam and Eve though. Essentially it states that the universe is too vast and that life is too complex to have come about by pure chance, that there had to have been a hand in designing it. Which is all fine and dandy, but it really has no place in schools. The problem intelligent design is that it lacks the scientific credibility or proof to back it up.
Molest a few dozen kids? No problem, we'll keep it under wraps. Gay? God don't love you.
I was going to say that Catholics should stand up and demand change in thier hierarchy, but the more likely scenario is that they'll just leave. So it's the Catholic hierarchy that needs to get its act together, or their church is just going to become more irrelevant every day.
Molest a few dozen kids? No problem, we'll keep it under wraps. Gay? God don't love you.
I was going to say that Catholics should stand up and demand change in thier hierarchy, but the more likely scenario is that they'll just leave. So it's the Catholic hierarchy that needs to get its act together, or their church is just going to become more irrelevant every day.
Right. Then when the coffers run dry, they'll come out and say that God told them they were actually wrong about the whole homosexual thing.
_________________ Deep below the dunes I roved Past the rows, past the rows Beside the acacias freshly in bloom I sent men to their doom
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