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The Pope declares evolution and the Big Bang real!

Vortigern99

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The current Pope has shown himself to be a quite rational, deep-thinking sort of person, whose views on science and the scientific process I admire. Recently he said:

“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand and able to do everything. But that is not so,” said the Pope.

...

“God is not a divine being or a magician, but the creator who brought everything to life,” Pope Francis said. “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.

...

This antithesis [of creationism vs. evolution] is absurd because, on the one hand, there are so many scientific proofs in favour of evolution which appears to be a reality we can see and which enriches our knowledge of life and being as such. But on the other, the doctrine of evolution does not answer every query, especially the great philosophical question: where does everything come from? And how did everything start which ultimately led to man? I believe this of the utmost importance.

One of many articles on this around the web: http://ringoffireradio.com/2014/10/...pt-evolution-and-big-bang-god-is-no-magician/

What do you think? Does this change your views on Catholicism, the Pope or the Church in general?
 
Didn't see it on the first page. Surprised it's not all the rage round here. Mods, feel free to combine, close, move, cannibalize, etc.
 
Vortigern99 said:
The Pope declares evolution and the Big Bang real!
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Evolution has been compatible with Catholicism officially since the middle of last century, and unofficially for a lot longer than that.

The Big Bang theory was proposed by Belgian catholic priest and scientist Georges Lemaître in 1927. One of the objections to the BBT was that it sounded too much like Genesis 1, and Lemaître was accused of trying to import religious concepts into physics.
 
GDon said:
One of the objections to the BBT was that it sounded too much like Genesis 1, and Lemaître was accused of trying to import religious concepts into physics.
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I've heard this before but really don't get it. In what ways does it resemble Genesis 1?
 
RecoveringYuppy said:
I've heard this before but really don't get it. In what ways does it resemble Genesis 1?
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From here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang#Development

In the 1920s and 1930s almost every major cosmologist preferred an eternal steady state universe, and several complained that the beginning of time implied by the Big Bang imported religious concepts into physics; this objection was later repeated by supporters of the steady state theory.[42] This perception was enhanced by the fact that the originator of the Big Bang theory, Monsignor Georges Lemaître, was a Roman Catholic priest.[43]​
 
For a long time, since Origen (writting around 200 CE), Christianity had maintained that time began when the universe was created. This went against the prevailing Greek philosophy of the time (which specified an eternal earth) and against the later science view, which was of an eternal universe under the "steady state" theories. So when a Catholic priest came up with the Big Bang Theory, which posited the universe having a beginning, it was suggested that maybe this was being driven by religious concerns rather than science.
 
Three comments:

He's a man who wears a dress and let's his entorouage look at his bottom.

He obviously browses the web cos I saw the same words today from a ten year old book.

Where's the money?
 
Vortigern99 said:
The current Pope has shown himself to be a quite rational, deep-thinking sort of person.........
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........who believes in a version of creation, the super-natural, demons, angels and so on, and believes himself to be god's representative on earth. Not that rational or deep-thinking, then.
 
Frank is different only in that he is such a refreshing change from Pope Rat. But he's no radical and still hews to basic Catholic doctrine. We'll know in a few decades whether he succeeded in turn the Catholic ship of state on a different course.
 
MikeG said:
........who believes in a version of creation, the super-natural, demons, angels and so on, and believes himself to be god's representative on earth. Not that rational or deep-thinking, then.
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Sure, but lightyears ahead of his forebears.

Credit where credit's due. I think we'll see more and more liberal pronouncements from this guy, who, let's face it, millions of Catholics listen to.

Well done Frankie.
 
Once upon a time, there was a man who denied the existence of gravity.
"I reject your silly action at a distance!" he said. "I see no spacetime curvature!"
So saying, he jumped off a cliff and expired, a mangled heap, at the bottom.
His last words were, " OK gravity is real and it sucks."

You have to give him credit for accepting the facts.

Doing so at the top of the cliff might have been preferable, but you don't get everything in this life.
 
GDon said:
Evolution has been compatible with Catholicism officially since the middle of last century, and unofficially for a lot longer than that.
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Compatible, yes, but so is creationism. Francis seems to go a step further and to endorse evolution as the preferred theory. It's certainly a step ahead.

Of course, he still has that pesky problem that of all animals, only humans are infused somewhere near the start of their life with a soul. So, God (possibly with his helpers the angels) still is a sort-of magician who goes around doing this soul-infusing business and perfectly knows who's human and who not. Did neanderthalensis have a soul?
 
Vortigern99 said:
What do you think? Does this change your views on Catholicism, the Pope or the Church in general?
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No, since the RCC never had a problem with evolution in the first place. Old news. Don't tell the Fundies though, they'll pop a cork.
 
bigred said:
No, since the RCC never had a problem with evolution in the first place. Old news. Don't tell the Fundies though, they'll pop a cork.
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I think they'd be more likely to say "What does he know? He's a Catholic. They're not even Christian."

As I look up "catholics aren't christians," the top result was Jack Chick. I think the Fundies won't have any problem.
 
Vortigern99 said:
“God is not a divine being or a magician,
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He turns wine into blood, bread into flesh, impregnates virgins, and incarnates as human. Sounds like a magician to me.

Vortigern99 said:
What do you think? Does this change your views on Catholicism, the Pope or the Church in general?
Click to expand...

No. It's not a new position for the church, he just stated it a little more explicitly.
 
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