The Vatican and Darwin - evolving nicely

[Image from Planetware]

The Roman Catholic Church did not always think much of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. That is not surprising because the Roman church has almost without exception fought scientific insight.

With regard to Darwin, at least, things have changed in Vatican City. In fact, the Vatican is holding a conference on evolution next month, designed to let the world know God thinks that religion and science are compatible, and in honor of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's book, On the Origin of the Species.

What's really funny is that Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, after declaring that the theory of evolution was compatible with Christian faith, said the notion of evolution goes all the way back to St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

Sure it does. Heh. Heh.

I guess he thought such an idea would give more authority to Darwin's theory. You would think, however, that he could find something Jesus said as reported in the Gospels to show that Darwin was doing the work of God in the world.


What I like about the Vatican position is that it more or less gives a bloody nose to the creationist bunch at the Discovery Institute, and also to the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, a devout "creationist" Catholic!

Americans are increasingly more ignorant

This from Matt Corley at Think Progress.

On this, the 200th anniversay of Charles Darwin's birth,
Gallup has released a new poll which indicates that a mere 39% of Americans believe in the theory of evolution; 36 percent say they don't have an opinion about evolution; and 25% indicate they do not believe.

Where the hell have we gone wrong?

Almost two-thirds of Americans either don't believe in evolution or don't care enough to have an opinion.

The theory of evolution is not a "theory" such as the theory that American cars are better than foreign-made cars, or that blondes have more fun, or that Republicans have family values.

The theory of evolution is fundamental to all science and is arguably the most important scientific theory of all time. While it doesn't answer all of our questions and has been and will be modified over time, it is the ONLY theory that answers the question as to how life arose and how we got to where we are.


Americans are a bunch of ignoramuses!

What's really sad is that when you factor in the 2 million or so kids that are being home-schooled, almost exclusively by religious nutcases who think the book of Genesis is history and that evolution is evil, and perhaps even Communistic, as well as the efforts of the genetic fruitcakes at the Discovery Institute who are working (with some success) to introduce their religious nonsense in the public schools, the ignorance of the American people will increase exponentially!

God, wherever she may be, help us!

Stephen Wise the unwise anti-evolutionist

Stephen Wise is a Repugnican Florida State Senator from Jacksonville. He's a fan of the non-intelligent nonsense, Intelligent Design. He's introduced a bill into the Florida legislature which would require Florida teachers to "discuss the idea of Intelligent Design."

Why, again, you ask, can't these christianists leave their religion in their churches?

To show you just how unwise (read ignorant) this Repug is, consider this statement: "If you're going to teach evolution, then you have to teach the other side so you can have critical thinking."

Yup. He'd probably agree with the notion that if you're going to teach astronomy, then you have to teach astrology - you know, the "other side" in order to have critical thinking.

Obviously Senator Wise doesn't know critical thinking from a critical coma.


There is no "other" side when it comes to evolution. The theory of evolution is the ONLY scientific theory that explains the origins of life and is THE theory upon which all biological science is based! Intelligent Design, which is essentially nothing more than Creationism in a new dress, is not science at all, but religion.

Religion does not belong in the science classroom!

As a judge said in 2005 when the courts barred a Pennsylvania school district from teaching Intelligent Design: The attempt to introduce ID into the schools was an example of "breaktaking inanity." He said further that the evidence was overwhelming - ID is a "religious view," and not scientific.


So, Senator Wise, in his profound ignorance, is raising this whole stupid issue again, and it may even end up in the courts which will cost the State of Florida gobs of money and if it passes, will do nothing more than confuse our already confused public school students.

Perhaps Senator Wise could go back to school. Perhaps he could study evolution. Perhaps he would find out that some humans have evolved less than others - most of whom are now Republican politicians.


An article from Jacksonville.com is here.

More in honor of Charles Darwin

The video below features David Attenborough speaking about evolution and the biblical book of Genesis.



h/t to Dwindling in Unbelief

In honor of Charles Darwin

The latest issue of National Geographic (February 2009) includes a special tribute to the great Charles Darwin.

Creationists, those stone-heads whose "truth" is carved from ancient mythological rock hewn by ignorant and superstitious tribesmen, are busy these days conducting "anti-Darwin" festivities, where they applaud their godly delusions and thumb their noses at real science, insisting on a magical creation over six days which so exhausted their too-human deity he had to sit down and rest.

The problem with creationists is simple: they begin with a belief and then attempt to fit the evidence to conform to that belief. They operate in a manner exactly opposite of the scientific method. Creationism, in its several forms, is not science by any stretch of the imagination. It represents fundamentalist Christianity, and starts from a confession of faith: The Christian Bible is to be understood literally, is true in all its aspects, and contains no mistakes or errors. Everything must follow from that confession.


A scientific theory, on the other hand, "is an explanation of a set of related observations or events based upon proven hypotheses and verified multiple times by detached groups of researchers." One might say a scientific theory represents the best way to describe and/or understand some thing or some process in our world as it has been tested and found reliable.

The theory of evolution (as well as the theory of relativity, atomic theory and the quantum theory) has been thoroughly tested/documented and proven beyond any reasonable doubt. It has been shown, over and over again, to be the most trustworthy way to understand our world.

As new information comes to light, however, and as that information is put to the test and found reliable, the theory of evolution will be tweaked accordingly.


Darwin's theory of evolution has been modified on a number of occasions. How and why Darwin's theory has been modified is the subject of the National Geographic article. It's one hell of a lot more interesting than the magical machinations of a mythological deity creating the universe in six tiresome days.

National Geographic explains why it is important to honor Charles Darwin:

"This year marks the 150th anniversary of the most incendiary book in the history of science, and coincidentally, the 200th birthday of the mild-mannered Englishman who wrote it. Charles Darwin did not invent the idea of evolution, any more than Abraham Lincoln, who happens to share his birthday on February 12, invented the idea of freedom. What Darwin provided in The Origin of Species was a powerful theory for how evolution could occur through purely natural forces, liberating scientists to explore the glorious complexity of life, rather than merely accept it as an impenetrable mystery. 'Nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution,' the geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote 36 years ago. That light, which began as a glimmer in the mind of a young naturalist aboard H.M.S. Beagle, today casts a beam so bright we can read the very text of life by it. Darwin would be overjoyed to see how much he did not know, and how much we have yet to learn."

Maybe the creationists should say "Thank God!" for Darwin!