Pope says evolution can't be proven

[Alex+R 0]

Jesus, people need to read other people's posts before posting the exact same thing. I was just kidding.

PS this is not coming from the same place of 'just kidding': I honestly don't care about slandering old Germans, if they were adults at the time.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

On the article, the media need to learn how to read. The Pope's position on evolution is about the same as it's always been: it's a nice theory, it explains a lot about the physical makeup of the universe, but that scientists should not draw conclusions about the existence of God or the spiritual importance of human beings from their studies about physical things. In other words, the tools science uses to understand nature cannot tell us anything about claims about the supernatural.

The previous Pope's position was the same: evolution is fine, but it can't explain God's role in creation (one way or the other), and it cannot "ground the dignity of the human person."

There's a lot that could be disagreed with there, but this is a far cry from trying to do creationist pseudo-science. That's a crazy American evangelical phenomenon.

Well said. What I find troubling about his comments is that he addresses the notion that science has the capacity to understand the universe without addressing the large number of Christians who reject the validity of scientific theories because of their literal interpretation of the Bible's story of creation. The Catholic Church has accepted the validity of the theory of evolution since Vatican II.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

On the article, the media need to learn how to read. The Pope's position on evolution is about the same as it's always been: it's a nice theory, it explains a lot about the physical makeup of the universe, but that scientists should not draw conclusions about the existence of God or the spiritual importance of human beings from their studies about physical things. In other words, the tools science uses to understand nature cannot tell us anything about claims about the supernatural.

The previous Pope's position was the same: evolution is fine, but it can't explain God's role in creation (one way or the other), and it cannot "ground the dignity of the human person."

There's a lot that could be disagreed with there, but this is a far cry from trying to do creationist pseudo-science. That's a crazy American evangelical phenomenon.

Well said. What I find troubling about his comments is that he addresses the notion that science has the capacity to understand the universe without addressing the large number of Christians who reject the validity of scientific theories because of their literal interpretation of the Bible's story of creation. The Catholic Church has accepted the validity of the theory of evolution since Vatican II.

I think its interesting that the pope's comments are interpreted for an American audience to the way that they relate to Intelligent Design, which as Caladan says is a primarily American phenomenon. Though I think its fair to say that the orthodox catholic position on these things differs somewhat from the evangelist perspective.