Sunday, November 27, 2005

SKYLINE EXTRA CREDIT First one in a while, sorry for that, but I was out to lunch for a few weeks. For 10 points extra credit, do a little research and tell me what Intelligent Design is, and how it relates to our science classes. You can drop me an email me at jgiacobbe_skyline@cox.net or give me your thoughts in class. 10:46:36 PM    comment []

And finally, some shocking news for those in the burgeoning whale cruise business, but perhaps another hopeful sign of rational thought winning out over dogma.   Breaking News: The Bible is not all factual It may seem shocking to those of us living under the reign of the so-called Christians that make up the extreme religious right here in the U.S., but earlier this month, Catholic bishops in England, Wales and Scotland announced that some parts of the Bible are not actually true. "We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision," the bishops write in a teaching text distributed to the faithful. According to the bishops, the first 11 chapters of Genesis are among the made-up portions of the Bible. These are the big sections, the ones where God makes the Earth and humankind in six days. Now we're told that these chapters "cannot be 'historical.' At most, they say, they may contain 'historical traces.'" Even more shocking to these eyes are the reasons for this change of story. The Times story says the bishops have announced this new concept in order to stem the tide of intolerant religious fundamentalism, while this reader can't help but imagine said bishops gesticulating furiously in the direction of the United States. The bishops wrote: "Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or group see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even consider themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others." And concerning Revelation, the scary, apocalyptic part of the New Testament, the bishops add: "Such symbolic language must be respected for what it is, and is not to be interpreted literally. We should not expect to discover in this book details about the end of the world, about how many will be saved and about when the end will come." Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins must be pissed. But don't worry, I'm sure our homegrown, intolerant Christian hatemongers will find a good way to get back and those English softies. Be sure to check the end of the Times story, as it has an indispensible list of which parts are fake and which parts real. 10:08:18 PM    comment []

On the other hand, perhaps it was too good to be true. Is this backtracking, covering of papal behind, or perhaps a scism between the rational and irrational sides of the church? The Pope on Creation By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS VATICAN CITY, Nov. 11 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI has waded into the evolution debate in the United States, saying the universe was made as an "intelligent project" and criticizing those who say its creation was without direction. Benedict's comments, made during his general audience on Wednesday, were published Thursday. The pope focused on scriptural readings that said God's love was seen in the "marvels of creation." He quoted St. Basil the Great as saying that some people, "fooled by the atheism that they carry inside of them, imagine a universe free of direction and order, as if at the mercy of chance." 10:03:21 PM    comment []

First, some hopeful news from one of the world's largest churches... Evolution in the bible, says Vatican By Martin Penner, from The Australian   THE Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin, voicing strong criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution and interpret the biblical account of creation literally. Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly. His statement was a clear attack on creationist campaigners in the US, who see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive. "The fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no scientific aim," he said at a Vatican press conference. He said the real message in Genesis was that "the universe didn't make itself and had a creator". This idea was part of theology, Cardinal Poupard emphasised, while the precise details of how creation and the development of the species came about belonged to a different realm - science. Cardinal Poupard said that it was important for Catholic believers to know how science saw things so as to "understand things better". His statements were interpreted in Italy as a rejection of the "intelligent design" view, which says the universe is so complex that some higher being must have designed every detail. 9:58:31 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 John Giacobbe.