news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051118/ap_on_re_eu/vatican_evolution
Vatican's chief astronomer said Friday that "intelligent design" isn' t science and doesn't belong in science classrooms, the latest high-rank ing Roman Catholic official to enter the evolution debate in the United States.
George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, sa id placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in scho ol programs was "wrong" and was akin to mixing apples with oranges. "Intelligent design isn't science even though it pretends to be," the ANS A news agency quoted Coyne as saying on the sidelines of a conference in Florence. "If you want to teach it in schools, intelligent design shoul d be taught when religion or cultural history is taught, not science." His comments were in line with his previous statements on "intelligent de sign" whose supporters hold that the universe is so complex that it mu st have been created by a higher power. Proponents of intelligent design are seeking to get public schools in the United States to teach it as part of the science curriculum. Critics sa y intelligent design is merely creationism a literal reading of the Bi ble's story of creation camouflaged in scientific language, and they s ay it does not belong in science curriculum. In a June article in the British Catholic magazine The Tablet, Coyne reaf firmed God's role in creation, but said science explains the history of the universe. "If they respect the results of modern science, and indeed the best of mo dern biblical research, religious believers must move away from the noti on of a dictator God or a designer God, a Newtonian God who made the uni verse as a watch that ticks along regularly." Rather, he argued, God should be seen more as an encouraging parent. "God in his infinite freedom continuously creates a world that reflects t hat freedom at all levels of the evolutionary process to greater and gre ater complexity," he wrote. "He is not continually intervening, but rath er allows, participates, loves." The Vatican Observatory, which Coyne heads, is one of the oldest astronom ical research institutions in the world. It is based in the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.
Pope Benedict XVI waded indirectly into the evolution debate by saying the universe was mad e by an "intelligent project" and criticizing those who in the name of s cience say its creation was without direction or order. Questions about the Vatican's position on evolution were raised in July b y Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn.
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