I have a much-fretted-about, definite-maybe relationship with the Catholic Church. My discomfort wasn't exactly eased by a meeting last night, but that's another story for another time.
What could help (definitely.... maybe....) is the news that the Vatican has issued a defense of Darwin's theory of natural selection, coupled with a strongly worded (by their standards) critique of Christian fundamentalists who want to interpret the creation stories literally. So there, Kansas!
Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, describes Darwin's theory and the Genesis account as "perfectly compatible". His statements have been interpreted as a rejection of "intelligent design" as some sort of competing theory to describe the origin of life. I can't find a copy of the full text in English, but presumably it will show up here: Pontifical Council for Culture eventually.
Of course, it's not as though I was waiting for the Vatican to tell me what to think about so-called "intelligent design". Moreover, the Catholic Church has supported something like evolution since before Darwin even formulated the theory. Check out Augustine's De genesi ad litteram if you don't believe me. Nonetheless, it's nice to note that some tiny part of my life isn't taking this long march to the right of the political spectrum.
Or am I grasping at straws?
Tags: Catholicism public policy
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