7 replies to this topic

[Buddy Kidd]

Vatican Science: How Pope Benedict Reconciled God and the Big Bang

By Gene J. Koprowski
Published January 15, 2011


God or the Big Bang? Why not both? Things aren't all black and white in the Vatican, it seems.

Pope Benedict XVI made headlines last week during a sermon that made a case for the similarity of science and religion, two disciplines on quest for the truth. Christopher T. Baglow, director of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute for Faith, Ethics and Science explained the nuance the pope tried to convey.

"The Italian word in question is concorrenza, which means 'rivalry,' not 'concurrence,'" he told FoxNews.com. In other words, Pope Benedict pointed out that God and the Big Bang aren't at odds -- not that they don't square up.

Surprised? Don't be. The church has long argued for a reconciliation of science and faith. Reality is a far cry from the caricature often seen in pop culture, in movies like "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" that portray the Catholic Church as butting heads with science.

That's good fiction, but it's just not true.

In fact, it was a Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Georges Lemaitre, who first proposed the Big Bang theory in 1927, on the basis of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, according to the American Natural History Museum in New York. The current Pope wrote about it in a 1995 book, and John Paul II called science a "highway to wonder" way back in 1979.

The Big Bang debate is just one example of the line Vatican scientists must walk. And there are many scientists indeed at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Rome, where Stephen Hawking and friends have discussed topics as diverse as biology, astronomy and chemistry.

Not all scientists believe there will ever be accord between science and religion, of course.

"Reconciling science with Christian religion is impossible," Zbigniew Jaworowski, a medical doctor, and a professor emeritus of natural sciences at the Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection, in Warsaw, Poland, told FoxNews.com. "Let the Pope stick with his sacred book, and let science follow its way."

The Academy will continue to try, however.

It recently appointed Werner Arber, a Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist, as president, and plans a working group this spring on the fate of mountain glaciers. Last fall the Pontifical Academy sponsored a lecture by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re that sought to reconcile the relationship that science and faith have with water. Recent sessions have focused on "human neuroplasticity" and "the scientific legacy of the 20th century."

And the Catholic Church is not the only organization studying the nexus between science and religion these days. At Saint Olaf’s College in Northfield, MN, the topic is a regular subject of inquiry.

"We have a relatively new program called Science Conversation that in part regularly addresses the science vs. religion’ issue," spokesman David Gonnerman told FoxNews.com.

Binghamton University in NY offers a for-credit course of study called "Evolutionary Religious Studies" as well, which offers an introduction to the study of religion from an "evolutionary" perspective. Even the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is getting involved. At the group’s 2011 meeting in Washington, D.C. next month, a scholar from Syracuse University will present a paper entitled, "Teaching and Learning about Biological Evolution in the Muslim World," as part of a panel discussion on evolution and religion.

For years, the Church has sought a reconciliation of science and faith. Back in 2005, French Cardinal Paul Poupard, in a news conference at the Vatican, said that the church wanted to help end the "mutual prejudice" between religion and science.

The project was apparently motivated by Pope John Paul II’s 1992 declaration that the church’s 17th-century excommunication of Galileo was a grievous error stemming from "tragic mutual incomprehension." Galileo was condemned for supporting Nicolaus Copernicus’ discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun; church teaching at the time placed the Earth at the center of the universe.

"The permanent lesson that the Galileo case represents pushes us to keep alive the dialogue between the various disciplines, and in particular between theology and the natural sciences, if we want to prevent similar episodes from repeating themselves in the future," Poupard said at that news conference.

There is hope for a reconciliation of science and religion among some scientific minds today. The work of this pope and his predecessor may be starting to yield results, said Jeffrey Schloss, chair of natural sciences and director of the Center for Faith, Philosophy and the Biosciences at Westmont College, in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"The [Pope’s] comments on the Big Bang fully accept the science of the evolving cosmos and don't claim any laws were miraculously broken," he told FoxNews.com.

"They only suggest that prior to any laws that were describable scientifically, there was a Being who devised them and brought them into existence -- through the Big Bang," he said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.c.../#ixzz1BAQpRHhq

[JackA]

Many have difficulty in accepting that God created the Universe instantly out of nothing and need to theorize it all started from a singularity known as the Big Bang Theory. This naturally limits God’s powers. The Scriptures teach God is infinite, eternal, and omnipotent. When He created the Universe He had no problem in creating it at an age of 13.7 billion year (if that is an accurate estimate) much the same way He created many things mature as is taught in His Word (reference the Genesis account).

To the natural man’s observations all things must have an explanation; a start (singularity, a seed, etc.) and an evolutionary process in order for us to make sense of it.

[kiwi_too]

The Big Bang is a description of God's Miracle of Creation. Any that would try to use it to explain away God forgets the first principles of science. First is that you cannot make something out of nothing; that is unless you are the Almighty and ever existent God. Secondly, to try to state that this complicated world evolved solely from simple compounds is spittin' in the wind. There is no coincidence in how the sun shines, wind blows and the creatures of this world grow and propagate. Change any of the dynamics by just a little and the world as we know it is gone or would never have existed. There is intelligent design in God's Creation. Science is working to understand this intelligent design. Science and religion are only opposing to those that have preconceived notions and try to fit the world into those notions.

[Psycmeistr]

The Vatican has long been involved in Science- it is home to one of the world's foremost observatories, The Vatican Observatory..

[Pat]

I hope this doesn't offend anybody being that I'm squeaky new here. Especially any Catholics. From my experience, the entire organization is a scam and nothing that comes out of the Vatican surprises me, nor do I believe it. But that's just me.

[kiwi_too]

Pat,

This is a place of study and inspiration. No bashing, please.

[Grey Mountain]

We have extremists on both sides, neither of which is seeking a solution. There are those who believe and will preach that the earth was created on Thursday, Oct 23, 4004 BC (Ussher), and at precisely 9am (Lightfoot). Others say there is no Supreme Being and the earth (and everything else) evolved from whatever. Somewhere in between these extremes is the truth. At one time in my life, I tried to convince myself that I was an Atheist. As such, I tired to understand where it all came from, using my own abilities. I never did figure it out from that aspect, and it only made my brain hurt. Once I accepted that there is a God, and that He did it, I no longer needed to know how and my brain quit hurting. I enjoy the more esoteric discussions about these things, but it is my faith in God on which I rely.
For the Big Bang folks - I'll accept the Big Bang if you can tell me Who lit the firecracker that started it.

In Christ.

Lonnie

[kiwi_too]

Grey Mountain, on 27 April 2011 - 06:00 AM, said:

For the Big Bang folks - I'll accept the Big Bang if you can tell me Who lit the firecracker that started it.

In Christ.

Lonnie

The only answer would be found in your signature, but I suspect that is what you were digging for.