Hell Freezes Over: Vatican admits Darwin was right.

Hambydammit
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Hell Freezes Over: Vatican admits Darwin was right.

 Once again, religion is giving ground to science when it becomes painfully obvious that religion is wrong.  The Vatican has released a statement essentially accepting that Darwin was right and that humans really did descend from ape-like ancestors.  That's not all.  In a rather crushing blow to Intelligent Design, Vatican officials have deemed it a cultural phenomenon, not a branch of real study.

Of course, there aren't any priests throwing in the towel and admitting that there is no god.  In a rather baffling statement, an archbishop has said that the biblical creation account and evolution are compatible.  To my knowledge, no details of just how this is possible have been released.  Also, in an effort to save face, the church is claiming that it never actually condemned Darwin's teaching, and that since the 1950s, it has given it helping to promote evolution as a valid theory.  Not only that, but apparently, unbenownst to all the science types, Augustine of Hippo beat Darwin to the punch in the 4th century.

Like so many times before in history, religion is scrambling to save face when it has become painted into a corner by science.  Already the propoganda is starting.  History is being rewritten before our eyes.  This process is one of the elements of religion that makes it so powerful and so dangerous.  There are many atheist activists who believe that science can never fully defeat religion because of its amazing adaptability.  It survived learning that earth was not the center of the universe, and it will survive learning that man was not made out of mud in a magic garden.  Theological texts will be reinterpreted so it will seem like Jesus was somehow anticipating, or perhaps even prophecying about the discovery of evolution.  Somehow, theologians will find a way to make evolution "prove" the existence of a loving personal god.

For your displeasure, I'll quote some of the responses to the article:

 

If the Vatican has truly admitted Charles Darwin was "on the right track" in his claim that Man descended from apes, then these church leaders are guilty of leading their flock astray. Jesus Christ warned us about false teachers-- everyone beware!   Denise, Traverse City, USA

 

There is nothing in the bible that contradicts evolutions basic principles. Modern evolutionary theory has a concept of a pre-existing "fitness landscape" (e.g. the eye developed several times independently, and should do on any planet that supports life). 

God should not be reduced to a mechanic!  Simon Adams, Weybridge, Surrey

 

It’s not news, really. Newman (soon to be declared a saint?) wrote in 1863 that he was prepared ‘to go the whole hog with Darwin.’ He couldn’t see what the fuss was about. Neither do I.    Marshall, Oakland, U.S.A.

 

 

 

So, get ready for a new wave of apologists explaining to us just how the Bible proves evolution, and how God loved us so much that he set it up so we'd descend from apes.   And don't worry, we'll still have plenty of people who deny evolution.  This will give the Protestants even more reason to think the Catholics are going to hell.  

 

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

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The Doomed Soul
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Excellent... our

Excellent... our infiltration units have begun destroying the church from the inside out... muahaha

 

Now back to Fox News!

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Catholics have accepted

Catholics have accepted evolution for quite a while. I learned evolution in Catholic High School, and it's been part of the curiculium since the curiculum was drafted IIRC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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I thought they'd admitted

I thought they'd admitted this a couple months back. Maybe it was a different one. Either way, I must say that the evolution side bar of the religious debate was the most annoying. Perhaps because there aren't that many people left who still believe the Earth is flat, but still. It's nice to know that one of the largest religions isn't arguing reality in this particular department anymore. It'll be a generation or two before the majority of this church accepts it, but it's still a step in the right direction.

Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.


pauljohntheskeptic
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John Paul II in 1996 caused

John Paul II in 1996 caused quite a controversy when he said, "Today, almost half a century after publication of the encyclical, new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of the theory."

See these links:

http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_jp02tc.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/religion/faith/statement_01.html

 

What's new is the claim Augustine and Thomas Aquinas could be traced as a basis. For quite some time the Catholic Church, especially their more learned scholars have been saying that there is nothing to suggest that God couldn't have used evolution as his way to create the Universe. There has been a movement away from literal interpretation of the Bible for years. I went to a Jesuit University in the 1980s and this view was being expressed back then.

 

 

 

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"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.


mrjonno
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Really don't want to pick on

Really don't want to pick on countries but creationism really is an American christian poltiical movement. No major religion outside the US pushes creationism (and that includes Islam, Catholic church, church of England, judaism .....).

Sure there are exceptions but you simply arent going to get the pope saying anything that is clearly scientifically and easily proved wrong (top scientists work for the church). Not to say he won't twist science and present it in a bad way arent going to get another Copernicus farce anymore.

 

 


Desdenova
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And Catholicism takes

And Catholicism takes another glacially slow step out of the dark ages. Meanwhile, Fundamentalism retreats further into the icy black, shrieking and gibbering in its intellectual straightjacket.

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Sometimes " The Majority " only means that all the fools are on the same side.


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Darwin and the Church

I passed through a religious phase as a 13 year old high school student and when my biology class presented evolution I decided to ask the parish priest if it was kosher (in a manner of speaking).  This was 1952 and his answer was that the church had no problem with the teaching of evolution as long as we remembered that although the body might have evolved, the soul did not.

 

Worked for me.  Still does.