by Patrick Lang (bio below)
Well, we’ve come a long way since Galileo was shown the instruments of torture.
In the last few days the Vatican astronomer, a Jesuit of course, and the cardinal archbishop of Vienna (formerly a Dominican friar) have taken the public position that “intelligent design” is an interesting and plausible idea, but not “biblical” in the sense that Protestant Evangelicals seem inclined to assert.
It is a long time now that the Roman Church has accepted that “science” is in Caesar’s realm and not its own.
This positions the Catholic Church as an ally of science and strengthens its role in its insistence on moral judgments about the sanctity of life, which it can plausibly argue fall within the boundaries of spiritual conviction.
Reference: Yahoo News
Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann (interview), CNN and Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room (interview), PBS’s Newshour, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” (interview), and more .
Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
Recommended Books || More BooTrib Posts
Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free by chapter, PDF format)
“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
conviction.
Which means they can have theirs, and I who have different conditions can have mine.
And the laws like science are Ceasar’s.
Just because the Vatican has acknowledged the reality of some — but not all — science doesn’t mean that the Vatican speaks in the name of science, or with any kind of scientific authority.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, for example, the Vatican considers homosexuality a choice, an abomination. And their witch hunts against gays and feminists (another satanic influence, according to the Church) are medieval in tone. They aren’t burning us at the stake because they don’t have the armies doing their bidding.
I’m not sure what the point of this diary is. “Listen to the Pope?”
I agree with you that the “traditional” view (at least as of when I was in Catholic high school in the 1970’s)of the Church is that evolution is acceptable. However, in his statements the cardinal tries to have it both ways, with what can only be seen as winks to the ID crowd:
And, as folks discussed in my diary on this story, his common-sense interpretation of science is faulty and outdated, leading to errors in his theology: He is “misreading the book of creation” and thus misinterpreting the thoughts of its author (as he would see it).
Information is a manifestation of order, not intelligence. Science has shown order can arise by natural means and thus can no longer be taken as a manifestation of intelligence. There is “information” in the way atoms are arranged in a crystal, but it arises totally naturally.
Trying to say “Well, that order arises naturally, but the human intellect arises differently” puts one in the position of promoting a “God of the gaps” theology, which has proved to be a slippery slope for anyone who’s tried it since the days of Galileo.
The cardinal is staking out turf that looks reliable to him today, but in a century or two will seem as indefensible as the 17th century cardinals saying that sunspots cannot exist for theological reasons. He’s welcome to try, but a man in his position ought to know better.
The Catholic hierarchy has a long way to go if they want to be considered rational on science. For instance, the Catholic Church is still teaching, at this late date, transubstantiation. Has anyone done any genetic testing of the wafer and the wine? I’d like to see the results. Of course, you’d have to have some original genetic material of the body and blood of the original Jesus of Nazareth to confirm or deny the results of any genetic testings. But I heard the Vatican has a whole room full of Jesus relics they keep secret that could also be used to establish the basis for the genetic testing. If only the Vatican would open the secret rooms and the secret files and the secret relics and show the world all the scary stuff they’re hiding away for centuries and millenia…. I’d pay to see that.