Oh my monkey God: Vatican says okay to evolution, Darwin ecstatic

[IsaacC]

Well this is surprising news for me.

The Vatican's culture minister, the Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, has said today that the theory of evolution is compatible with the Bible. They further state that the Vatican discourages literal interpretations of the Bible, including the ones that creationists stand for.

It's like Hitler suddenly decided to have tea with Eisenhower. This is the science vs religion debate coming to a halt right here.

This is a big deal, considering that many creationists are pressing for public schools to offer creationism as an alternative to evolution. Scientists, on the other hand, believe that creationism has no place in a Science class.

Ravasi said that: Creationism belongs to the “strictly theological sphere” and could not be used ideologically in science.

It's also to be noted that the Vatican is not against the idea of aliens either, as their cheif astronomer said earlier this year that believing in little green men does not contradict faith in God.

Now I wonder if the Vatican is ok with the idea that God evolved from a monkey. Probably not. It's to be noted that the Vatican has no plans on a posthumous apology to Charles Darwin for giving his theories the cold shoulder 150 years ago.

Source: LiveScience, hxxp://www.livescience.com/blogs/2008/09/16/vatican-evolution-is-fine/

[FreePlay]

Both the current and previous Popes said this, too. Not really news, but hey. Yay Catholics.

[mohaas05]

I don't think this is that big of a deal. It's not like the Catholic Church officially condemned evolution (at least not in modern times). But still, it does make me feel closer to the church since I'm Catholic but I believe in the theory of evolution.

[slicer4ever]

heh, i don't think this well sway me back to their side, atheists FTW=-)

[RommelTJ]

Well this is surprising news for me.
[...]
This is a big deal, considering that many creationists are pressing for public schools to offer creationism as an alternative to evolution. Scientists, on the other hand, believe that creationism has no place in a Science class.

Now I wonder if the Vatican is ok with the idea that God evolved from a monkey. Probably not. It's to be noted that the Vatican has no plans on a posthumous apology to Charles Darwin for giving his theories the cold shoulder 150 years ago.

First of all, hi Isaac C and thanks for letting me know about this forum

Anyway, I've been studying Theology for the past three semesters, and this is nothing new to me. I think most Catholics now grew up believing in Evolution, regardless of what the official stance of the Catholic Church was.

We acknowledge that sometimes Rome is too detached from reality. Have you ever been there? Riches beyond riches! That is not how the world is!

Most of us are tolerant of homosexuals and abortion too. See, some of us believe that human dignity was part of the message that Jesus Christ spread to the world.

As for taking the Bible literally, Catholics don't do that since Vatican II (I think even earlier). We believe that you have to take into context the historic background and the intent of the authors writing it. The reason for this is that even though the word of God is flawless and holy, we are too flawed to interpret it to its full extent all the time.

I can go on and on explaining the Catholic doctrine of Original sin, but that's boring. The most important thing here is that not all Catholics are stupid or in denial of science. Thankfully, our religion allows us to think, since most of us believe God gave us free will.

As for the idea that Humans came from a monkey, some of us believe that too. When the Bible says that man(kind) was made in His(or Her) image, it doesn't mean that we were molded out of Clay in his literal shape. What it really means is that Man(kind) is made of Body and Soul.

So yeah... Protestants are weird...

[IsaacC]

First of all, hi Isaac C and thanks for letting me know about this forum

Anyway, I've been studying Theology for the past three semesters, and this is nothing new to me. I think most Catholics now grew up believing in Evolution, regardless of what the official stance of the Catholic Church was.

We acknowledge that sometimes Rome is too detached from reality. Have you ever been there? Riches beyond riches! That is not how the world is!

Most of us are tolerant of homosexuals and abortion too. See, some of us believe that human dignity was part of the message that Jesus Christ spread to the world.

As for taking the Bible literally, Catholics don't do that since Vatican II (I think even earlier). We believe that you have to take into context the historic background and the intent of the authors writing it. The reason for this is that even though the word of God is flawless and holy, we are too flawed to interpret it to its full extent all the time.

I can go on and on explaining the Catholic doctrine of Original sin, but that's boring. The most important thing here is that not all Catholics are stupid or in denial of science. Thankfully, our religion allows us to think, since most of us believe God gave us free will.

As for the idea that Humans came from a monkey, some of us believe that too. When the Bible says that man(kind) was made in His(or Her) image, it doesn't mean that we were molded out of Clay in his literal shape. What it really means is that Man(kind) is made of Body and Soul.

So yeah... Protestants are weird...

Heeey RommelTJ, glad to see you here.

Yeah, my friends and I are were talking about this when I found out about it. My knowledge of Catholic doctrine is a bit limited, and most of the Catholics I know are the opposite of what you described - kinda limited and narrow in thinking. Of course that's not my impression of Catholics, it's just unfortunate that in the community I live in, it's the dominant kind. Ironically, I grew up in a Baptist church, and there's a lot of those there too.

I talked to one of my seminarian friends after I read this news so I can find out more about Catholicism from someone who studied it. He pretty much explained most of what you already said, which was pretty cool. Then I explained to him what I was taught in my church and we had a good laugh about it.

*edit* Oh, and here's a follow up. The Pope and Stephen Hawking recently met in a gathering about evolution. I'm still boggled by how these two can see eye to eye, but most people around the world are still split on the subject. Via Reuters

[iluvpspz]

evolution has gotten us so far in life its just amaazing makes me want to cry