Pope Francis has declared that both Evolution and the Big Bang Theory are real.
The theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and God is not “a magician with a magic wand”, Pope Francis has declared.
Speaking at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pope made comments which experts said put an end to the “pseudo theories” of creationism and intelligent design that some argue were encouraged by his predecessor, Benedict XVI.
Francis explained that both scientific theories were not incompatible with the existence of a creator – arguing instead that they “require it”.
“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” Francis said.
He is right of course. No scientific theory can prove or disprove the existence of God.
The basic premise is that, since science and religion are of two completely different realms of knowledge, one cannot possibly interfere with the other. Which is the position of most reasonable scientists, as well as many theological scholars. So for the multitude of scientists and theologians who deal with this in their careers, Pope Francis is merely making a tacit affirmation of reality.
But his statements affirming Evolution and the Big Bang Theory are still significant, because he is finally saying what many of us in the science community have been wanting him to say for quite awhile, putting his religious authority behind these affirmations.
The reason Pope Francis saying this is significant, is that it helps lay bare the efforts of theocratic extremists in this country to push things like evolution out of the science classroom and Creationism and Intelligent Design into the science classroom.
For those who are not so scientifically inclined, the damage done by these cargo cult science theories is hard to fully appreciate. "If science is all about testing and competing theories, what is wrong with Creationism as another science theory?"
The problem with these theories is that Creationism and Intelligent Design do not introduce anything new that has been scientifically proven to contradict evolution or the Big Bang. The only difference is that they introduce God, or his scientific placeholder, the Intelligent Designer/Creator, who is, by virtue of his very defining qualities, outside the realm of science.
But if that is the case, there is absolutely no reason to teach this aspect to children in the classroom. They can have this point expressed to them in their religious teachings at home or at church, where it makes the most sense to teach this concept of a Creator anyways.
The only point to these theories is to push religion into science class rooms, most perniciously when it is in our public school systems funded by our tax dollars.
By affirming Evolution and the Big Bang, Pope Francis is supporting these theories as sufficient scientific explanations, therefore, eliminating any valid reason to introduce these "competing theories" in science class rooms, which I am being generous to refer to them as such, as they are not much for competition and not much for theory.
The Pope is saying that he will no longer run interference for the theocrats pushing religion into our public schools under the auspices of science. And he should be praised for that.
Of course, at this point I am almost 100% positive that these statements by Pope Francis will in no way deter any of the efforts to push Creationism/ID into the science class room that still continue to this day. After all, these are the same pool of people who dismissed the Pope's statements on climate change and on income inequality. So, this is just one more example showing that the Religious Right in this country use figures like the Pope, not really as moral leaders, only a moral figurehead.
But all the more reason to commend the Pope for showing how to truly blend religious values and beliefs with science and reason.
Thu Jul 09, 2015 at 6:51 PM PT: My apologies. It was pointed out to me in the comments that this article is actually from LAST YEAR, making this diary quite late. Although I believe the content of the diary is still valid, I apologize for the inference that this was somehow a recent occurrence.