Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomer

Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomer
The Scotsman ^ | May 5, 2006 | IAN JOHNSTON

BELIEVING that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism, the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno claimed yesterday.

Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a "destructive myth" had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.

He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a "kind of paganism" because it harked back to the days of "nature gods" who were responsible for natural events.

Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. "Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That's why science and religion need to talk to each other," he said.

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=674042006

Google on Brother Consolmagno

and read most of the article. It was reasonable. Christianity is a very anthropocentric religion, so of course people will wonder if other intellligent life exists (besides human beings), does this mean that Christianity is wrong? Just like when discovering that the earth was not the center of the universe shook the faith of many people. Apparently, in response to these concerns, Brother Consolmagno wrote a pamphlet (that sounds a bit light-hearted). Here is a quote from the article about the pamphlet:

Human understanding "is always incomplete. It is crazy to underestimate God's ability to create in depths of ways that we will never completely understand. It is equally dangerous to think that we understand God completely," he said in his booklet.

He told CNS that his booklet tries to show "the fun of thinking" about what it would mean if God had created more than life on Earth. Such speculation "is very worthwhile if it makes us reflect on things we do know and have taken for granted," he said.

He said asking such questions as "Would aliens have souls?" or "Does the salvation of Christ apply to them?" helps one "appreciate what it means for us to have a soul" and helps one better "recognize what the salvation of Christ means to us."

Brother Consolmagno said he tried to show in the booklet that "the church is not afraid of science" and that Catholics, too, should be unafraid and confident in confronting all types of speculation, no matter how "far out" and spacey it may be.

For science fiction fans, Trekkies, or telescope-toting space enthusiasts, the booklet's last chapter reveals where there are references to extraterrestrials in the Bible.

Brother Consolmagno said the Bible is also replete with references to or descriptions of "nonhuman intelligent beings" who worship God. For example, he said the Scriptures talk about angels, "sons of God" who took human wives, and "heavenly beings" that "shouted for joy" when God created the earth.

It sounds fun and interesting to me.

He was just an amazing person to talk to. He is funny, witty and very, very smart with that innate wonder about the universe that marks all great scientists. He give the Vatican a good name, and I don't say that lightly.

Thanks for this!

do other christians (protestants) have 'astronomers"? or meteorites?

that people in our culture would take "literally" an account of creation that was some kind of poetical myth from 6000 years ago.

It's nice that the Catholics are trying inject some sense into the matter. Encouraging people to consider science. Etc.


P.S. I don' think the problem is paganism "turning God into a nature god" - it's trying to take seriously (scientifically?) something written before anyone had any understanding of these things. He's just using paganism to discredit it - because he wants to protect his idea (or the Catholic idea) of "God".

I can only wait with bated breath for
the anti-knowledge Fundies to hear about this!

They FEAR Science and HATE the Catholics,
so this ought to set them off bigtime.

Their insane rants will probably be off the charts on this one.
Eyeballs will bulge, veins will throb,
and you better believe some Bibles WILL be thumped.

Almost makes me want to TIVO the 700 Club...almost.

Just wondering.

as "Intelligent Design"

It's more like really, really stupid than pagan, but what the heck, let's start dropping pagan into every creationist/intelligent design argument. And let's hope A Flock of Dodos is a huge hit when it gets released this summer.

support. ;-)

Paganism doesn't go around disrupting science classes.