Creationism dismissed as ‘a kind of paganism’ by Vatican’s astronomer
This is sort of funny, since it’s truth coming from the Vatican, but at the same time ignoring it’s own stupidity. My favorite quote has to be:
“Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That’s why science and religion need to talk to each other”
Science needs no help from religion, but religion needs a lot of help from science.
Creationism dismissed as ‘a kind of paganism’ by Vatican’s astronomer
BELIEVING that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism, the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno claimed yesterday.
Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a “destructive myth” had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.
He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a “kind of paganism” because it harked back to the days of “nature gods” who were responsible for natural events.
Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. “Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That’s why science and religion need to talk to each other,” he said.
“Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism – it’s turning God into a nature god. And science needs religion in order to have a conscience, to know that, just because something is possible, it may not be a good thing to do.”
No…that’s why science needs morality. Why why do some people find it hard to admit there’s a distinction?
Science do not need religion to guide it, but religion needs to be guided by science. “Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality” Science needs moral opinion, not to be controlled.
Just because of your beliefs, something may not be a good thing to do, does not mean that something good cannot come from it. Science cannot keep religion close to reality, if religion does not allow science to find out where the reality is.
There’s a Vatican observatory in Arizona?
Arizona’s got very little light pollution since it’s a desert.. probably a good place to explore the sky.