On 7/26/07, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > No - it's a common misconception but evolutionary theory doesn't actually > say > anything about the origin of life itself.
This statement isn't clear. You think evolution claims to know the origin of life? However there are many scientific hypothesis that DO concern the origin of > life - > the Pope says nothing about them. Why would he? He is discussing EVOLUTION, not any of those other hypothesis. His position is very simple: The Catholic church will not take a stance against evolution because it is able to reconcile their belief in a Creator with the very obvious fact that evolution is indeed reality. Now, if you were to come up with something to replace their Creator....like..."Bill in Accounting created life"...they would probably take issue with that. Personally I find the Pope's position a bit frustrating. He makes his case > only > by assuming, but not actually stating, Catholic beliefs: namely that the > bible is > not to be taken literally. Frustrating?!?! Are you on drugs? This is as refreshing a position as you are going to find from a religious leader! What do you expect man? He is saying that his faith can be reconciled with the reality of evolution, and he is suggesting that his flock (the largest in the world, if statistics are to be believed) should do the same. How is that frustrating? That is all that we evolutionists can possibly ask for from a religious group. He's basically saying that the whole issue is just "absurd" - but only if > you > believe exactly as I do. It's the same as if somebody said "Racism is > stupid - > there's no reason to hate others because of the color of their skin!" I don't see that at ALL. He is saying that evolution is a reality, and that the faith of his Church can easily be reconciled with that reality. Evolution answers the "how", and he believes his faith answers the "why". Where is the absurdity in that? He has a clear concept of the separation of "faith" and "science"....how is that absurd? Yes - it' true, but it does nothing to deal with the problem. It doesn't do much to deal with the problem only because, generally speaking, the Catholics haven't been the source of the problem. If the leaders of the other major churches, especially the fundamentalist nutty ones, would issue the same kind of decree as Benedict, that would help out tremendously! -- Then before, and now once more, I'm bouncin' round the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion is delivering applications solutions at at top companies around the world in government. Find out how and where now http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/showcase/index.cfm?event=finder&productID=1522&loc=en_us Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:239094 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
