Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomer

The Scotsman ^ | May 5, 2006 | IAN JOHNSTON

[Right Wing Professor]

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."

Brother Consolmagno, who was due to give a speech at the Glasgow Science Centre last night, entitled "Why the Pope has an Astronomer", said the idea of papal infallibility had been a "PR disaster". What it actually meant was that, on matters of faith, followers should accept "somebody has got to be the boss, the final authority".

"It's not like he has a magic power, that God whispers the truth in his ear," he said.

[Right Wing Professor]

Too much "canon' fodder" already.

Heh heh.

[Right Wing Professor]

Well, being only ONE man's opinion does make it micro-canonical

Now that's a geek joke!

[dartuser]

The first chapters of Genesis are an allegory. It's that simple.

And your evidence for this is what? ...

[onedoug]

Too bad the "Vatican Astronomer" has evidently never heard of "relativity".

Gerald Schroeder, The Science Of God

[Campion]

The church should clean up its act

The individual in question is an astronomer, not a theologian, and doesn't have the authority to teach on behalf of the church any more than I do.

The supreme teaching authority in the Catholic Church is vested in the bishops, in union with the Pope. The gentleman in question isn't a bishop, and isn't the Pope. He's expressing a personal opinion.

[after dark]

Thats your opinion . I think he is a Catholic who would like to rid the world of Evangelicals. The bible makes it clear pagans are polytheistic. Evangelicals are painfully monotheistic.

[CobaltBlue]

I agree with the good Brother. Truth cannot contradict truth.

[CobaltBlue]

The details of how he did it, or how long it took, are irrelevant.

Not "irrelevant" for all purposes, surely.

[js1138]

Except for all the Demiurges.

[RegulatorCountry]

What is time, to a deity that exists outside of it? And who are we, to say what is or isn't "possible" in light of that?

[CDHart]

"The day of reckoning had arrived for this corrupt politician."

I'd like to see a lot more of these particular days. :^)

Carolyn

[Doctor Stochastic]

"There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays,
And every single one of them is right!"

[MineralMan]

"And your evidence for this is what? ..."

The evidence of the age of the Earth and of the Universe. It's that simple.

[manwiththehands]

But "days" in the Biblical account of creation in a million-year or billion-year God "timeline" wouldn't work. Too many things happened on one day that needed events on the subsequent days to survive.

[freedumb2003]

ping (it is News, not Religion at the moment)

[MineralMan]

""There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays,
And every single one of them is right!""

Indeed.

[freedumb2003]

To insist that the Bible must speak literally at all times and on all subjects is an attempt to limit an omnipotent and omnipresent God and bind him to literalism. He won't be bound. But people may bind themselves with it. He can write symbolically, allegorically, poetically, artistically, literally, or however he wants and needs for his own purposes and to reach and instruct different people at different times.

Why would you go and be reasonable and rob people of their badly-needed superiority? ;)

ps: Good post!

[The Shootist]

Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomer

Sweet.

[technochick99]

What a shameful apostate. The Catholic Church has fallen so far!

IIRC, the Church has never endorsed creationism. My readings of Bishop Sheen tends to confirm this.

[CobaltBlue]

And who are we, to say what is or isn't "possible" in light of that?

I admit I can't comprehend God.

But if you're a fundamentalist, then you "know" what God did. No humility there.