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Cardinal backs evolution and "intelligent design"
Reuters - Science ^ | 2005-10-04

Posted on 10/04/2005 12:21:01 PM PDT by Junior

PARIS (Reuters) - A senior Roman Catholic cardinal seen as a champion of "intelligent design" against Darwin's explanation of life has described the theory of evolution as "one of the very great works of intellectual history."

Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn said he could believe both in divine creation and in evolution because one was a question of religion and the other of science, two realms that complimented rather than contradicted each other.

Schoenborn's view, presented in a lecture published by his office on Tuesday, tempered earlier statements that seemed to ally the Church with United States conservatives campaigning against the teaching of evolution in public schools.

A court in Pennsylvania is now hearing a suit brought by parents against a school district that teaches intelligent design -- the view that life is so complex some higher being must have designed it -- alongside evolution in biology class.

"Without a doubt, Darwin pulled off quite a feat with his main work and it remains one of the very great works of intellectual history," Schoenborn declared in a lecture in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna on Sunday.

"I see no problem combining belief in the Creator with the theory of evolution, under one condition -- that the limits of a scientific theory are respected," he said.

Science studies what is observable and scientists overstep the boundaries of their discipline when they conclude evolution proves there was no creator, said the cardinal, 60, a top Church doctrinal expert and close associate of Pope Benedict.

"It is fully reasonable to assume some sense or design even if the scientific method demands restrictions that shut out this question," said the cardinal.

JUST A MISUNDERSTANDING?

Schoenborn, who ranked among the papal hopefuls last April, caused an uproar in the United States last July with a New York Times article that seemed to say the Church no longer accepted evolution and backed intelligent design.

Proponents of intelligent design argue that Darwin's natural selection theory is flawed and alternatives should be taught.

Scientists reject this as a disguised form of Creationism, the literal belief in Creation as described in the Bible and barred by the U.S. Supreme Court from being taught in public schools.

Even Catholic scientists, including chief Vatican astronomer Rev. George Coyne S.J., contested Schoenborn's view.

In his lecture, Schoenborn said his article had led to misunderstandings and sometimes polemics. "Maybe one did not express oneself clearly enough or thoughts were not clear enough," he said. "Such misunderstandings can be cleared up."

Schoenborn said he believed God created "the things of the world" but did not explain how a divine will to bring about mankind would have influenced its actual evolution.

"They were so to speak let free into their own existence," he said.



TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: crevo; crevolist; evolution
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To: bondserv
Do you believe the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of all of the Books listed below?

He revealed to them what they could understand in terms they could understand.

When your 3 year old child asks where babies come from, how do you explain it to her?

61 posted on 10/04/2005 2:41:57 PM PDT by Ditto ( No trees were killed in sending this message, but billions of electrons were inconvenienced.)
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To: DaveLoneRanger
You don't falsely malign a fellow Freeper and expect to get away without being challenged.

Who are the pigs you were referring to in your previous post?

62 posted on 10/04/2005 2:50:02 PM PDT by shuckmaster (Bring back SeaLion and ModernMan!)
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To: DaveLoneRanger

You advise people to avoid flame wars but then you call the opposition pigs. A classic do as i say not as I do moment.


63 posted on 10/04/2005 2:52:16 PM PDT by BikerNYC
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To: Right Wing Professor
ModernMan made a suggestion that FReeper scripter was a bit obsessed with homosexual issues, and asked if he had a financial interest in curing or reforming homosexuals.

Did scripter ever respond?
64 posted on 10/04/2005 2:53:19 PM PDT by BikerNYC
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To: bondserv; Junior
When an interpretation of Scripture defies reality, it is the interpretation of Scripture that is at fault.

When an interpretation of the data defies God's revealed Word, it is the interpretation of the data that is at fault.

So obviously it is faulty interpretation of the data -- in this case of geography -- were we to suggest that the Apostle Paul was incorrect in claiming that the gospel had been preached throughout the whole world, as he did for instance in Colossians 1:6 and 23; Romans 1:8, 10:18 and 16:19?

I just need some clarification... Should we conclude that the populations of the Americas, Australia, The Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, Far-East Asia, etc, never really existed at all, or where they and their cultures created ex nihilo sometime after the 1st Century?

Or is it just possible that we might sometimes have to look beyond the plain meaning of scripture because it conflicts with merely secular human discovery? I know it's possibly an earth-shattering concession for you to make, but whadaya think?

65 posted on 10/04/2005 2:53:54 PM PDT by Stultis
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To: BikerNYC
Did scripter ever respond?

No. He, AFAIK, had little to do with the banning. Little jeremiah posted a gloating followup when the deed was done.

66 posted on 10/04/2005 3:27:07 PM PDT by Right Wing Professor
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To: Doctor Stochastic
Tragic or comic?

Why not archaic?

67 posted on 10/04/2005 3:43:23 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Paging Nehemiah Scudder:the Crazy Years are peaking. America is ready for you.)
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To: Junior
The Catholic Church has wised up since Galileo. They usually know enough to stay away from established science and don't challenge it. Why bother fighting loosing battles?

And there are always enough unknowns to work with. And they can always argue about the ethics of the sometimes controversial use of some scientific knowledge.
68 posted on 10/04/2005 3:45:41 PM PDT by ml1954
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To: DaveLoneRanger

but don't roll in the dirt with the pigs; you get dirty, but the pig likes it.

Oink, oink.

69 posted on 10/04/2005 3:55:55 PM PDT by ml1954
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To: Junior; DaveLoneRanger; Aetius; Alamo-Girl; AndrewC; Asphalt; betty boop; bondserv; bvw; D Rider; ..
""They were so to speak let free into their own existence," he said."

A Cardinal, eh? - God said "after their own kind" and now this cardinal thinks he has the authority to overrule God?

Why doesn't he just admit that he's an atheist? He shames the church with his mindless mutterings.

70 posted on 10/04/2005 3:56:49 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Atheist and Fool are synonyms; Evolution is where fools hide from the sunrise)
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To: Oztrich Boy
Could you say that the Peking Man fossils represent the "missing" link?





(If that's too obscure--they were lost in transit in 1941 and haven't been seen since.)

71 posted on 10/04/2005 4:06:24 PM PDT by Coyoteman (I love the sound of beta decay in the morning!)
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To: Doctor Stochastic

In Memoriam.
Fallen CrevoSci Warriors:


ALS
Area Freeper
Aric2000
Askel5
bluepistolero
churchillbuff
ConservababeJen
DittoJed2
Ed Current
f.Christian
followerofchrist
goodseedhomeschool
gore3000
Jedigirl
JesseShurun
Le-Roy
Marathon
medved
metacognative
Modernman
Ogmios
peg the prophet
Phoroneus
ret_medic
RickyJ
SeaLion
Tomax
tpaine
WaveThatFlag
xm177e2

72 posted on 10/04/2005 4:06:41 PM PDT by Junior (From now on, I'll stick to science, and leave the hunting alien mutants to the experts!)
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To: Ditto
He revealed to them what they could understand in terms they could understand.

When your 3 year old child asks where babies come from, how do you explain it to her?

Are you implying that God intentionally misrepresented the truth throughout Scripture because we were not capable of grasping it?

73 posted on 10/04/2005 4:11:52 PM PDT by bondserv (God governs our universe and has seen fit to offer us a pardon. †)
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To: bondserv
Interpretation of data can only properly take place within the context of other data. That is what a theory does in science. You can interpret individual data points any old way you want (which is why creationists like taking evidence out of context), but when it is interpreted in relation to other evidence, patterns emerge. The Theory of Evolution is one such pattern.

Your interpretation of Scripture might be consistent with any individual piece of evidence, but it is wildly at variance with the evidence as a whole.

74 posted on 10/04/2005 4:12:21 PM PDT by Junior (From now on, I'll stick to science, and leave the hunting alien mutants to the experts!)
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To: Junior

perhaps it is mans interpretation of the natural world that is incorrect


75 posted on 10/04/2005 4:21:20 PM PDT by flevit
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To: ml1954
"The Catholic Church has wised up since Galileo. They usually know enough to stay away from established science and don't challenge it."

Sorry - but the conflict was between Copernican science and Aristotelian science which had become Church tradition.

Galileo wrote: "I think in the first place that it is very pious to say and prudent to affirm that the Holy Bible can never speak untruth -- whenever its true meaning is understood." He cited Copernicus in the same vein: "He [Copernicus] did not ignore the Bible, but he knew very well that if his doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scripture when they were rightly understood"

76 posted on 10/04/2005 4:25:04 PM PDT by Matchett-PI ( "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." -- Dwight Eisenhower)
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To: bondserv
Are you implying that God intentionally misrepresented the truth throughout Scripture because we were not capable of grasping it?

The bible is not a credible science book. Have you ever seen the sun stop in it's tracks for a day? Or are we throwing out conservation of angular momentum as well?

77 posted on 10/04/2005 4:28:16 PM PDT by blowfish
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To: Junior

Maybe the DIM/PC/Postmodern Deconstructionist strategy of delving into dead peoples' notebooks of random musings, speculations, and thoughts and using them to discredit what people stood for when they were alive has cross pollinated.


78 posted on 10/04/2005 4:40:46 PM PDT by ml1954
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To: Junior
"Evolution does not speak ..."

The evolution of makeup speaks loudly:


79 posted on 10/04/2005 4:41:11 PM PDT by Matchett-PI ( "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." -- Dwight Eisenhower)
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To: Matchett-PI

Are you trying to refute something I wrote?


80 posted on 10/04/2005 4:43:01 PM PDT by ml1954
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