Pope prepares to embrace theory of intelligent design

Guardian ^ | 08/28/06 | John Hooper

[Abathar]

Philosophers, scientists and other intellectuals close to Pope Benedict will gather at his summer palace outside Rome this week for intensive discussions that could herald a fundamental shift in the Vatican's view of evolution. There have been growing signs the Pope is considering aligning his church more closely with the theory of "intelligent design" taught in some US states. Advocates of the theory argue that some features of the universe and nature are so complex that they must have been designed by a higher intelligence. Critics say it is a disguise for creationism.

A prominent anti-evolutionist and Roman Catholic scientist, Dominique Tassot, told the US National Catholic Reporter that this week's meeting was "to give a broader extension to the debate. Even if [the Pope] knows where he wants to go, and I believe he does, it will take time. Most Catholic intellectuals today are convinced that evolution is obviously true because most scientists say so." In 1996, in what was seen as a capitulation to scientific orthodoxy, John Paul II said Darwin's theories were "more than a hypothesis". Last week, at a conference in Rimini, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Austria revealed that evolution and creation had been chosen as the subjects for this year's meeting of the Pope's Schülerkreis - a group consisting mainly of his former doctoral students that has been gathering annually since the late 1970s. Apart from Cardinal Schönborn, participants at the closed-door meeting will include the president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Peter Schuster; the conservative ethical philosopher Robert Spaemann; and Paul Elbrich, professor of philosophy at Munich University.

[Abathar]

Don't shoot the messenger please.....

[Incorrigible]

So says the Guardian...

[Abathar]

Yeah, I know. Grain of salt and all, but who knows - it might be true.

[TrebleRebel]

What progressive thinking.

[Abathar]

I bet the DUmmies are all over this, I might slip on my Mental Hazmat Suit and see if they are singing this from the rooftops, I bet they are.

[RonF]

ID is a theory? Really? What hypothesis was tested to come up with it? How can it be further tested?

[pikachu]

Kinky Friedman said something like, "How can anyone believe in Intelligent Design after seeing the Texas legislature?"

[Mad Dawg]

In a startling display of the power of faith to overlook contradictory data, the Holy Father will in the same statement acknowledge the existence of Democrats and affirm his belief that the universe is not the work of malevolent spirits or of mere random occurrences, but of a being who means to do us good.

In anticipation, Vatican Theologians are preparing a statement denying the Democrats really exist.

Father Guido Parolaccio, Vatican Magister Rotationis (or spin meister), said, "Yes, I have seen something that looked like a Democrat, and it even appeared to be alive. But seriously, my children, when you consider how they act, what they do, what they say, would you call that LIVING?"

Check back at the top of the hour for further developments.

[lionheart 247365]

And next the Dah Vinci code , right ???

[demkicker]

Advocates of the theory argue that some features of the universe and nature are so complex that they must have been designed by a higher intelligence. Critics say it is a disguise for creationism.

I guess this is a typical 'duh factor' response for those that don't realize the intelligent designer is God.

[TrebleRebel]

I like the description of the claim that the designer need not be explained not as a contribution to knowledge but as a thought-terminating cliché.

[Abathar]

What? The way you say that almost leads me to believe you think that it's a work of fiction!!

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Maybe someone will finally propose a definition of it.

[colinhester]

I still follow "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster."

http://www.venganza.org/

[LouD]

I do not believe that evolution and creationism are mutually exclusive. The Bible is more about "why" than "how" - For all we know, the divine word of God may have included doctoral theses on genetics and string theory, explained at a level that a pre-scientific culture could grasp.

Even if you follow evolution all the way back to the beginning, you don't get to nothingness...

[RobbyS]

In his "Truth and Tolerance" the pope reminds us that the Kantian or neo-Kantian notion that we cannot know absolute truth holds sway in almost every discipline. although his Philosophy as a whole is rejected as inadequate, So Kant said a priori that we cannot "know" God or things about God. To put it another way, there can be no metaphysics. Yet men yearn for certainty, so a process like evolution, which has some similarities to Hegel's , is accepted without much examination, even though we have not fully delineated that process.

[siunevada]

Yeah, I know. Grain of salt and all, but who knows - it might be true.

I thought the Guardian and the Telegraph always had the best interests of the Catholic Church at heart. No? I'm disappointed.

Here's a prediction. No definitive pronouncements one way or the other. They'll remain interested observers.

[wideawake]

The Roman Catholic Church never endorses any specific scientific theory - it only makes statements that point out specific scientific theories are untenable.

The most salient example of this was when Pope Pius XII condemned polygenism - the notion that human beings may have had different sets of ancestors. The Pope reaffirmed the truth that all human beings are descended from the same two common parents.

The Pope may condemn the notion that the universe originates in chaos and reject that sceintific theory as untenable - but he will endorse any particular scientific theory as being valid.

The Church alone has the deposit of faith - it does not outsource its magisterial authority.

[Sofa King]

Funny how nobody asks how the higher intelligence came to be...