Inilah salah satu kelebihan orang Nasrani sekarang dari orang islam yang juga
hidup sekarang: mereka punya tradisi untuk berusaha buat mengikuti kemajuan
yang dicapai oleh ilmu pengetahuan...
Tidak berarti mereka lantas bergegas menerima tiap kemajuan yang dicapai ilmu
pengetahuan: perlu seabad lebih, misalnya, bagi berbagai gereja untuk menerima
kenyataan bahwa evolusi seperti yang ditulis Darwin memang terjadi. Dan
kendatipun sudah mereka terima teori Darwin itu, tapi masih perlu waktu bagi
mereka untuk menerima kelanjutan logis dari penerimaan itu dengan mengubah
posisi teologis mereka tentang prokreasi, misalnya.
Lambat, tapi ajaran Nasrani yang sudah manusiawi itu, bergerak maju dan makin
cerdas.
Beda nian dengan orang Islam yang tahun 2013 ini masih pada berebut mau hidup
seperti orang Arab primitif yang hidup empat belas yang lalu di padang pasir
yang gersang itu.
Saya yakin gereja katolik Roma tidak lama lagi juga akan mengizinkan kondom,
akan menghapuskan selibasi, akan mengakui hak homoseksual untuk kawin sejenis
dan, lambat laun, akan punya kardinal perempuan, artinya membuka jalan bagi
perempuan untuk jadi Paus.
--
Vatican seeks to rebrand its relationship with science
By Florence Davey-Attlee , CNN
April 11, 2013 -- Updated 1106 GMT (1906 HKT)
CNN.com
Pope Francis graduated as a chemical technician before moving on to study
philosophy, psychology and theology.
Pope Francis graduated as a chemical technician before moving on to study
philosophy, psychology and theology.
(CNN) -- Dropping to his knees before the 10 cardinals of the Inquisition,
dressed in the white shirt of penitence, Galileo Galilei was forced to retract
his "heretic" theory that the Earth moved around the Sun. Threatened with
torture and interrogated for 18 days, the scientist, who was imprisoned in the
17th century, promised to never again teach the theory and spent the rest of
his life under house arrest in his small farmhouse outside of Florence.
Galileo's fate was very different from that of other scientists at the time of
the Inquisition. Some were executed for threatening the church's teachings.
Italian astronomer Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher who argued that the
universe was infinite, was burned at the stake.
Now in 2013, as Pope Francis settles into his new role as leader of the
Catholic Church, the Vatican's head of science is urging a re-think of the
"mischaracterization" of the relationship between the church and science.
The Vatican would like the world to see how much this relationship has changed.
With the new pope being himself a trained scientist -- Francis graduated as a
chemical technician before moving on to study philosophy, psychology and
theology -- the timing could be right for a new era of cooperation between the
Vatican and science, building on the work of the STOQ Project -- Science,
Theology and the Ontological Quest -- which was created by Pope John Paul II in
2003.
Since his election as pontiff, Vatican-watchers have been searching for signals
about the direction in which Francis will take the church. Even in his
inaugural speech, he referenced the importance of environmental stewardship and
an appreciation of the natural world:
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"Let us be "protectors" of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in
nature, protectors of one another and of the environment."
According to Oxford University theologian Dr. William Carroll, Pope Francis'
remarks suggest he may be planning to use his papacy to refocus the world's
attention on tackling global warming and other environmental issues.
Embracing science
Monsignor Tomasz Trafny, the Director of the Vatican's Science and Faith
Foundation, which was created last year, thinks that the new pope will continue
the progress already made in building ties with the scientific community. He
says the Vatican today has a very positive relationship with science.
"There was a time when theologians thought they understood everything, but we
learned the lesson from history", he told CNN.
Acknowledging that the Galileo era was a dark period for the church, Trafny
says that the modern-day Vatican is much more careful not to tread on the toes
of science.
"If you look at what is going on today you will see that theologians are very
careful about what they are thinking or speaking about related to scientific
issues."
Trafny will co-host a conference focusing on adult stem cell therapies with the
pharmaceutical company NeoStem at the Vatican on April 11, a project which the
Vatican has partly funded.
This unusual marriage of church and biotech is a targeted public affairs
initiative. The Vatican aims to use the partnership to show people there is an
alternative to embryonic stem cell research - which it vehemently opposes -
that doesn't involve the destruction of human embryos.
"We want to tell people that they can easily feel like good Catholics without
any embarrassing situations or difficulties embracing science."
Taboos remain
But even some within the Vatican's own scientific community have concerns about
the the church's firm stance on other matters. As well as embryonic stem cell
research, the church, for instance, still rejects contraception, which is seen
to interfere with God's will.
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Dr. Werner Arber, the head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a Nobel
Prize-winning genetic scientist, says in some areas the Vatican's approach
remains problematic. He works as an adviser to the Vatican on matters of
scientific development and regularly provides recommendations on areas of
overlap between science and faith.
Speaking to CNN, Arber said that rather than dealing head on with conflicts
between science and the Bible, scientists like him often had to avoid them:
"I don't propose certain topics which I consider taboo. Unless we are asked, we
had better not mention them."
In particular, Arber is uncomfortable with the Vatican's insistence that
condoms aren't the right way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, which he says
is "unrealistic." The church maintains that condoms promote promiscuity. Both
the World Health Organization and the United Nations regard condoms as highly
effective at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, which kills over a million
people globally every year.
Arber euphemistically says he's hopeful that the new Pope Francis will help the
church "move things forward" when it comes to tackling HIV/AIDS.
Sticking points
Jeremy Webb, editor-in-chief of New Scientist magazine, also hopes the Catholic
Church under Pope Francis will make an exception to its stance on condom use to
fight the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.
He says the speed at which new developments are emerging in the biological
sciences is increasingly bringing about conflicts with the Vatican. In
particular Webb sees this in relation to reproductive technologies -- such as
in vitro fertilization (IVF), and egg and sperm donation -- all of which the
church says are improper methods of procreation.
"The church is taking its viewpoint from 2,000-year-old teachings and trying to
apply them to a modern world, which is delivering all sorts of moral dilemmas,"
he said to CNN.
Webb doubts there will be any significant change in the Vatican's fundamental
attitude to contraception under Francis and believes this will remain a
sticking point between the biological sciences and the church.
"Catholics believe that anything that threatens the sanctity of life -
including contraception - is wrong. That is a barrier and it will always be a
barrier."
There have been no signals yet as to whether Pope Francis will bring about a
softening of the Vatican's stance on issues such as condom-use as means to
prevent suffering and early death.
Werner Arber is optimistic that the Vatican will eventually catch up with the
scientific evidence: "I have hope but - as with Galileo -- it will take a long
time."
READ MORE: Pope Francis washes youths' feet at detention center
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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