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Did Pope Benedict Really Dismiss Evolution as ‘Science Fiction’?
strangenotions.com ^ | 9/26/13 | Stacy Trasancos

Posted on 09/28/2013 12:01:33 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM

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1 posted on 09/28/2013 12:01:33 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
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To: Brian Kopp DPM

The earth is flat!!


2 posted on 09/28/2013 12:03:39 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Brian Kopp DPM
Evolution? Well we know de-evolution is an absolute set-in-stone hardcore fact.


3 posted on 09/28/2013 12:08:17 PM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (What do we want? Time travel. When do we want it? It's irrelevant.)
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To: Sacajaweau
The earth is not flat. The Universe is flat.

Relatively.

4 posted on 09/28/2013 12:12:27 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis, In tua se clausit viscera factus homo.")
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To: Brian Kopp DPM

Elephants all the way down.

Seriously, though, the General Theory of Evolution is science fiction. After all those years, scientists have still been unable to really prove it.

Yes, there is genetic modification, and intraspecies evolution. But general evolution out of nothing simply doesn’t compute. The Church is open to the idea, since it does not take the creation date literally. (What do “days” mean in Genesis, for instance, before the creation of light, or of the sun and the moon? Presumably unspecified lengths of time.)

As a Catholic, I have no religious problem with evolutionary theory. But as someone with an interest in science, I have never thought it really made sense, ever since I was introduced to it in school.


5 posted on 09/28/2013 12:12:58 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Brian Kopp DPM

“So did Pope Benedict really dismiss evolution as science fiction? No, he called it science fiction in the sense that it is a mental model, which is not a dismissal, but an acknowledgement. Pope Benedict and the Church have been consistently positive toward evolutionary theory as an explanatory model. That offspring differ slightly from the parents and therefore respond to the environment in slightly different ways, is obvious. Natural selection, genetic mutation, and population changes are quantifiable scientific observances. Evolutionary theory is a valid explanatory model insofar as it seeks to explain what is within the boundaries of science, something the Church absolutely insists upon.”


And here I was rooting for Benedict for a moment, thinking he really referred to the theory of evolution as “science fiction” (in other words, as a fable). Instead, he was actually praising it?


6 posted on 09/28/2013 12:21:49 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans
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To: Brian Kopp DPM; alphadog; infool7; Heart-Rest; HoosierDammit; red irish; fastrock; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

7 posted on 09/28/2013 12:24:48 PM PDT by narses
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To: Sacajaweau
Saw it with my own lying eyes!


8 posted on 09/28/2013 12:27:55 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Brian Kopp DPM

The picture of the adoring, shallow, brainwashed low-information idiots tells why 0 got so many votes.


9 posted on 09/28/2013 12:41:17 PM PDT by I want the USA back (Media: completely irresponsible traitors. Complicit in the destruction of our country.)
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Benedict XVI Denies Covering Up Child Abuse, Calls Richard Dawkins Book ‘Science Fiction’
http://www.christianpost.com/news/benedict-xvi-denies-covering-up-child-abuse-calls-richard-dawkins-book-science-fiction-105477/

Ex-Pope Benedict says The Selfish Gene is science fiction. He’s half right
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/sep/26/pope-benedict-the-selfish-gene-richard-dawkins


10 posted on 09/28/2013 12:42:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans
Instead, he was actually praising it?

I do not believe so, from the remarks quoted. I believe the author wants to believe Pope Benedict was praising the theory of evolution. To me, it read as if he was neither "dismissing" nor praising, but identifying evolution as something more hypothesized than proved.

11 posted on 09/28/2013 12:49:06 PM PDT by Tax-chick (I'm not crazy ... I'm just not you.)
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To: Brian Kopp DPM

The Theory of Evolution depends upon life spontaneously appearing on Earth. I watch in amusement as supporters of the theory steadfastly claim that it does not concern itself with “origins”. Many cling to the theory as a way to deny that God exists, let alone that God might make demands of them or that God would judge their lives according to their works. (see for example: Revelation 20:13). And their support is steadfast in light of biological features that violate the rules of the theory such as irreducible complexity, not to mention how utterly impossible the predicates for sustainable life really are apart from a guiding Creator.

Putting aside how sustainable life was initiated, it is one thing to propose that ongoing mutation and random selection causes slight changes in an isolated population over long periods of time, and that the very same process can turn one species of animal into something totally different.

The homosexual mafia has taken queues from evolutionists. In a growing number of areas, a person will be totally ground into the dust and utterly shunned should they not give vigorous and positive affirmation of the validity of the current theory. This demand alone shows how false it is.


12 posted on 09/28/2013 1:07:36 PM PDT by theBuckwheat
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To: theBuckwheat

> The Theory of Evolution depends upon life spontaneously appearing on Earth.

No, it doesn’t.


13 posted on 09/28/2013 1:25:39 PM PDT by Ha Ha Thats Very Logical
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To: Brian Kopp DPM
The THEORY of Evolution is just THAT....a THEORY....passed on as "fact" to gullible people that don't like to give GOD the CREDIT! . Show me ONE....just ONE animal that has gone from a fish to a bird, vice versa, or an ant to an elephant.

ANd IF we evolved from apes, why are there STILL apes???

14 posted on 09/28/2013 1:33:24 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion......the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Ha Ha Thats Very Logical

A Catholic Priest came up with the Big Bang Theory. He had problem with the theory and his religion. God caused the Big Bang like he causes everything else.

http://spacetheology.blogspot.com/2009/04/georges-lemaitre.html


15 posted on 09/28/2013 1:49:21 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
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To: NKP_Vet

Corrected.

A Catholic Priest came up with the Big Bang Theory. He had NO problem with the theory and his religion. God caused the Big Bang like he causes everything else.

http://spacetheology.blogspot.com/2009/04/georges-lemaitre.html


16 posted on 09/28/2013 1:50:48 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
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To: Ann Archy

Dogs evolved from wolves over many centuries through artificial selection. Yet there are still wolves.


17 posted on 09/28/2013 1:51:21 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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To: tumblindice

Yes, that’s true, and the question is not really that sensible in light of the theory. I’d just like to point out that dogs are not a good example of speciation, since they are very much mere domesticated wolves, completely genetically compatible with the wild breeds they are descended from.


18 posted on 09/28/2013 2:17:55 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman

I love that expression: “It’s only a theory!”


19 posted on 09/28/2013 2:25:50 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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To: Boogieman

Compare chimpanzee and Abe Vigoda’s DNA: Identical.


20 posted on 09/28/2013 2:27:45 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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