The Pope <3s Aliens
Good news, especially for the folks at this blog, as one of them got all the way up through her first confirmation class before going “Uhh…no”, and the other has become so good at Catholicism that he doesn’t need to practice anymore. The Vatican said this week that believing in aliens is just peachy keen. I can’t get married and Rud shouldn’t use condoms, but hey! Aliens!
Actually, it is fascinating from a theological perspective, especially in a world where Christianity is becoming increasingly associated with being totally phobic of science. And my cohort is going to love this little gem: the Papal Astronomer in question speculates that otherworldly beings could be free from original sin. O rly?
Link.
On a side note, does anybody else find it kinda weirdly cool that the Pope has a chief astronomer?
May 16, 2008 at 10:17 am
You know religion (especially catholicism) has always been a tug of war for me, so to see that the Vatican specifically making these announcements kinda bothers me. While I think its great that the Vatican is trying really hard to not seem so stiff and gruff, I’m pissed about these revelations because they don’t seem to help anyone (regardless of belief) in anyway. Telling your congregation that aliens exsist and that they maybe free from orginal sin and that Darwin is so cool we’re gonna have a b-day party for him, does not help them become better people to a great extent(maybe less hostile towards a science teacher). Now I am all for clarification of belief of a religion, as time goes on and bibles get older, meanings can get lost. But I guess what I would really like the Vactican to say is “hey everyone! so we have this way of thinking and somebody else might think differently, and thats ok. No really. Its cool. Don’t sue people for the ten comments in courthouse yards, don’t throw rocks at planned parenthood clinics. If you want, buy ‘em a beer and have an intelligent discussion about your differences, who knows you might change their mind, they might change yours, or maybe you’ll both learn that you’re really not that different….oh and God made aliens way superbetter then you.”
May 16, 2008 at 12:03 pm
The only reason that Aliens might possibly be born without Original Sin is that Aliens = Angels. Think about it. Not from here, closer to Heaven/the Sky thank we are, both words start with the letter “a” and have the letters “e” and “n” somewhere in there.
That’s proof enough for me.
This is just a clever way to make us all more ignorant, in my humble opinion.
Seeing as I graduated from Catholicism (got Confirmed), I feel that I am qualified to point out that the Roman Catholic Church is marching headlong into the 12th century.
May 16, 2008 at 12:09 pm
If the Vatican said that, I think the world would all of a sudden become a fairly awesome place. I totally want to have a beer with the Pope.
I, too, think that it’s kind of odd to have the stance of “OUR RELIGION IS THE ONLY RELIGION AND YOU ARE WRONG”, and then change your mind about things later. Religion should change, it should be fluid and it should evolve alongside society. If you start doing that and you still say “U R WRONG STFU”, then it seems a might hypocritical in my eyes.
This is why I’ve always hugely admired the Dalai Lama (I cried all over his hands a few years back, but that’s another story). Here’s the leader of the Buddhist faith, who is the living reincarnation of a god to his people, and he has always been of the opinion, “Hey, you know, not everybody is Buddhist, and not everybody should be. For all we know, we could be totally wrong about this. If we are, we’ll change it as we go along. But it works for us, and if you’ve got something that works for you, that’s great. Let’s just be friends and learn something from each other.” That, in my eyes, is totally effing rad.
May 17, 2008 at 10:44 am
Okay, I have my issues with Catholicism too, BUT…the Catholic Church is really pretty with it when it comes to evolution and cosmology. (There was this embarassing episode with some guy named Galileo…). This news item actually sort of fascinated me, because the Pope and Co. are not only okay with the idea that science and religion are two different ways of understanding the world, but they have been for years and are also doing some neat science! I met the Vatican Astronomer at the World Conference on Evolution (!), and the only time his feathers got ruffled was during a discussion with an in-your-face atheistic scientist (also not a position I agree with – since science can neither prove or disprove the existence of the supernatural, we have a responsibility to be religiously neutral). Father Astronomer was quite an intelligent, well-spoken guy. His red and black cassock was pretty snappy-looking too.
If you want to get your hackles up, check out the latest anti-evolution legislation attempts:
http://www.natcenscied.org/
Let’s send American education back to the Dark Ages, shall we??
The Catholic Church is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the Bible literalists, for which I am very thankful! (So are most mainstream religions, but don’t tell the ID folks that. Sheesh.)
May 17, 2008 at 11:37 am
But, Mrs. C, I know this stuff. It’s just far more fun to bark at straw men to make myself look intimidating or smart or something.
:(
Oh! And somebody told me that the Father Astronomer is a Jesuit. Do you know if that’s true?
May 17, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Read The Sparrow and Angels and Demons all will be revealed.
I will be the first (or one of them, that phrase has always bothered me) to say that that catholic is behind the times on many things but for the most part they are much better than other Christian religions. For one thing they gave us the Jesuits who have got to be the coolest men of the cloth (this is a phrase i like, also “worth his salt” is an awesome one that should be used more often) in the world, they are open minded, intelligent and explain their sometimes un-biblical like attitude with the phrase “The Catholic Church has good intentions but on many point they are just wrong (actually said to me by a Jesuit father).” Ok back to original point sorry, while i feel it is ok to criticize the Catholic Church I dont really think it is necessary when they make one of these statements. Sure they do things wrong but they are trying to change small steps at a time. Yes the Church is one by one man,(another issue right there) but there are hundreds of old white conservatives that he has to please and be elected by so if they do not change the leader will never change. and changing an entire generation of religious leaders is a very long process that takes time. So while i wouldn’t hold my breath for the Church to sanctify gay marriage, female priests or the use of condoms over night i say we welcome any change in policy(however random and insignificant it might be) that reflects the knowledge of the modern world because it can only mean good things to come.
And thank you guys for actually having an intelligent conversation about something that has an effect on the world today and not just LOOK AT ME IM CREATIVE I HAVE IDEAS NO ONE ELSE DOES AND I WRITE ABOUT THEM!!!
sorry about that last part but i couldnt make a comment on you blog without bashing it, it goes against my morals and the teachings of the catholic church.
May 17, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Yes, Rud, Father Astronomer (I like that!) is a Jesuit. And an Argentine. And an expert on disc galaxies. However, his predecessor was also a Jesuit (and American), but he offended the current Holy Father (who is entirely to conservative for my tastes, but that’s a whole ‘nuther story) by being TOO Darwinian and not ID enough. Apparently the Galileo lesson is still being learned by some…
May 17, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Okay, how many of you knew this? (I sure didn’t!)
The Vatican Observatory established a research branch in Arizona in 1981 when the growing population of Rome made the sky too bright for astronomical observations.
Here’s another interesting bit:
Contrary to much conventional wisdom, the Church has often been in science’s corner. The telescopes of the Vatican Observatory are perched on the roof of the Pope’s summer home in Caste1 Gandolfo, and Jesuits were for centuries Europe’s leading astronomers. “Seventeenth-century Jesuits invented the reflecting telescope and the wave theory of light,” Consolmagno pointed out. “In the 18th century they ran a quarter of all the astronomical observatories in Europe.” And it was Georges Lemaitre, a priest, who in 1927 deduced from Einstein’s equations of general relativity that the universe is expanding—and that it therefore began in a Big Bang. It will be fascinating to see if the Vatican is now enlisting in the battle to defend science from its growing legions of attackers.