Evolution in the bible, says Vatican
From:  By Martin Penner
November 07, 2005 
 
THE Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin, voicing strong
criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution
and interpret the biblical account of creation literally.

Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the
Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of
evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly. 
His statement was a clear attack on creationist campaigners in the US, who
see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive. 

"The fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no
scientific aim," he said at a Vatican press conference. He said the real
message in Genesis was that "the universe didn't make itself and had a
creator". 

This idea was part of theology, Cardinal Poupard emphasised, while the
precise details of how creation and the development of the species came
about belonged to a different realm - science. Cardinal Poupard said that it
was important for Catholic believers to know how science saw things so as to
"understand things better". 

His statements were interpreted in Italy as a rejection of the "intelligent
design" view, which says the universe is so complex that some higher being
must have designed every detail.


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"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know 
how you ought to answer every man."  (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org

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