Pope Francis says evolution and Big Bang theory are true: God is not “a magician, with a magic wand”
“Today, almost half a century after publication of the encyclical, new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of the theory.”
-Pope John Paul in 1996
A Catholic Priest came up with the Big Bang Theory.
This post has been out for 15 minutes and there are no hateful comments yet, I am impressed. Lot of hateful comments on salon.com though LOL
This Pope Is Different.
I wonder when the Catholic establishment will boot him out and install a tame European Pope.
Still, in Catholicism, one of the requirements for beatification is proof of miracles performed by the to-be-saint. So really, how much can he change? It’s a religion based on superstition. Virgin birth, walking on water, on and on. And hypocrisy - while condeming idolatry, they are happy to burn candles in front of images of saints; and the church has a statue of Jesuson the cross.
No offense to Catholics. Contradictions in Catholicism are hardly unique in the world of religions.
EDIT: In a way, it is easier for Hindus to stop the continuous onslaught of the proselytizing religions - Christianity and Islam - when their religious leaders are A*holes. Like Pope Paul II who said something like “a billion people in India are living in darkness” blah blah. It is tougher to fight a charismatic, reasonable Pope. Because in the end, for Christians and Muslims, religion is a numbers game. It’s exclusive. With us or against us.
I just had to finish editing 
“Monseigneur Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître, was a Belgian priest, astronomer and professor of physics at the French section of the Catholic University of Leuven. He was the first known academic to propose the theory of the expansion of the universe, widely misattributed to Edwin Hubble. He was also the first to derive what is now known as Hubble’s law and made the first estimation of what is now called the Hubble constant, which he published in 1927, two years before Hubble’s article. Lemaître also proposed what became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe, which he called his ‘hypothesis of the primeval atom’ or the ‘Cosmic Egg’.”
I think most mildly intelligent Christians of various backgrounds have accepted big bang theory and evolution for some time now. I know I was taught and studied that it was a compatable belief at a major Christian college. The understanding within those departments and among many prominent pastors was that old testament stories (including the creation) weren’t meant to be taken literally, and that the modern propensity to do so is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the culture at the time those stories originated. Back in that era it was understood that not everything was literal but that a story could still hold an equally valuable “truth” despite not being literal. Today this is less common so you have a disconnect between readers from one culture and authors from another. So you could equally argue that the conditions for the Big Bang were designed by a being, since scientists offer no other real explanation for how matter and nearly unlimited potential energy could simply appear from nothingness. And I believe micro evolution in particular should be obvious.
Pat Robertston who is an exteremely conservative televangelist essentially said as much in 2012:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/29/pat-robertson-challenges-creationism/
I’m not expressing these as my personal beliefs or trying to win converts here. I’m just saying this idea has been around for sometime with out being incompatible and the simplistic literal interpretation of religious texts is more common by either outsiders or uneducated sunday school attendees.
I don’t believe in evolution. If a bear can’t get a cat pregnant then how are they from the same thing?
Where do bearcats come from then?
And evolution doesn’t believe in you - Darwin’s theory never mentions trolls 
I know, you are probably not entirely serious. But if a camel can get a llama pregnant… http://www.planbsideeffects.net/can-i-get-pregnant-from-my-dog/
This idea is even older than you assume. In City of God (426 AD), St. Augustine even said that it was impossible for the world to be created in seven days because we define days with the Sun and Earth, which didn’t exist on the first day. He postulated that the days were representative of long epochs.
The science vs. religion meme (most used against Christianity specifically) is a false dichotomy created by anti-Christians, not by Christians (though there are obviously some more fringe Christian groups that push that agenda).
I believe the Catholic Church has even said that life on other planets is not incompatible with the idea that God thinks Earth and people are special. Of course, intelligent life on other planets might simply be an explanation for why it looks like God may have lost interest in us down here…
Ah yes, the old “i’m gonna interpret the words differently” strategy.
Is the Pope Catholic?
i think the Pope is actually cool
Itera,
In the NT, Jesus spoke in parables almost as often as not. At the time of the OT it was even more prevalent. It just takes a little bit of cultural understanding and common sense. The only difference is that the OT wasn’t conveyed in the same narrative format because you get “here’s the story” instead of JC saying “here’s the story” and then going on to talk about camels passing through the eye of a needle.
Regardless, the track record of science could read like a comedy itself.
I’ll just say this, please respect others religions. I may jab at others, generalize/stereotype based on their ethnicity, even poke fun at Bgachad; but I draw the line at insulting/cirticizing another’s religious belief.
I feel my faith has made me a better person and allowed me to give more thanks and gratitude to those who helped me get me where I am today.
The thread is now heading downhill as anticipated. There we go, well done guys. That was a weird 15 minute gap there but I guess it was a little too early for the lunch crowd.
Someone bring back the abs thread. It seems preferably to where this is going.