Vatican says aliens are OK

geirj
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Vatican says aliens are OK

Vatican Says It's OK to Believe in Aliens

  http://news.aol.com/story/_a/vatican-says-its-ok-to-believe-in-aliens/20080513170709990001?icid=100214839x1202096643x1200080259APPosted: 2008-05-13 18:57:26VATICAN CITY (May 13) - Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.

The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

But he said he continues to believe that "God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance."

Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has "caused wounds."

In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

"The church has somehow recognized its mistakes," he said. "Maybe it could have done it better, but now it's time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration."

Pope John Paul II declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."

The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world's best.

The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.

 


Hambydammit
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Quote:The interview,

Quote:
The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

Starvin Marvin in Space comes to mind for some reason...

Quote:
Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

Makes me wonder if Funes has ever met a scientist.

Quote:
The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

Please Pardon Our Olympic Backpedal.... now where is that corner we were heading towards?

Quote:
Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has "caused wounds."

The moment theists leave Stalin out of discussions, I'll consider it.

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

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I saw this a few hours ago.

I saw this a few hours ago. Was going to post in News but was only able to find in Comcast which doesn't let you cuntpaste and you can only view the site if Comcast is your ISP. Sure, if you believe there's an invisible man who lives in the sky he and a Jewish zombie and an ill-defined ghost are really the same person, he will forgive you for a "sin" that's been present since a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree if you telepathically accept him, but if you don't he will have your corpse or ghost tortured forever - though he loves you, hey aliens are pretty easy to accept.

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Quote:Pope John Paul II

Quote:


Pope John Paul II declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."
 

In other words - it was partly Galileo's fault.

Fuck me. Will organized religion ever take the blame for anything?

Nobody I know was brainwashed into being an atheist.

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I'm sick and tired of the

I'm sick and tired of the freeking Vatican.  What real authority do they have, their ability to wear really big hats?!

I want to see Richard Dawkins, Pope Benny, and Ben Stine play a game of Jeopardy and see Richard kick both their asses.

To go beyond your limits you must first find them.


I AM GOD AS YOU
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"SUE SUE SUE" , the Pope and

"SUE SUE SUE" , the Pope and all of them loons  .....

 Google related topics etc  .....

"Can I Sue The Church?"

http://home.teleport.com/~packham/lawsuit.htm

  

 


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JanCham wrote:I'm sick and

JanCham wrote:

I'm sick and tired of the freeking Vatican.  What real authority do they have, their ability to wear really big hats?!

I want to see Richard Dawkins, Pope Benny, and Ben Stine play a game of Jeopardy and see Richard kick both their asses.

 

I'm almost certain he would unless they included categories in Pop Culture, Economics or Catholicism - the 1st 2 would give an advantage to Ben Stein while the last would give it to the Pope. I know the pop culture shit is what would trip me up if I ever went on.

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jmm
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Jacob Cordingley
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So, these aliens... do they

So, these aliens... do they know about Jesus?


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This is going to cause

This is going to cause awhole lot more division between Fundies(Protestants) and catholics, IMO. Believing in aliens was a big no no in my fundy days.Not that I really care about their fighting.

I'm really over the Vatican.More and more, it seems they're just making up rules and their own little religon as they go along. Already half the stuff they believe isn't mentioned in the bible. When will they admit they can't communicate with god and they're just in it for the hats.Making up new sins,suddenly changing what's acceptable and what ins't-how do millions still follow the popes every word?

Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible

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This is getting redudnant. My patience with the unteachable[atheists] is limited.

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HisWillness
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 The Vatican has a "chief

 The Vatican has a "chief astronomer"? I'm speechless.


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HisWillness wrote: The

HisWillness wrote:

 The Vatican has a "chief astronomer"? I'm speechless.

 

He's still looking for a lens cap for his radio telescope.


HisWillness
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phooney wrote:HisWillness

phooney wrote:

HisWillness wrote:

 The Vatican has a "chief astronomer"? I'm speechless.

He's still looking for a lens cap for his radio telescope.

My father used to be a photographer, and he was forever looking for a lens cap, so the layers on that joke cracked me up way more than you can imagine.

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The Vatican may have a chief

The Vatican may have a chief astronomer but his employers are still a long way off from being the mitre-headed equivalent of the Royal Society or Smithsonian.

In 2006 they sacked the American Jesuit George Coyne who had held the position for 28 years, basically because Coyne had come to the view that Darwinism made sense, and said so. His bosses, obviously a little puzzled how one could develop such a common-sense view just from looking at stars, decided he must be losing it and replaced him with the current mealy-mouthed incumbent Funes who is (probably understandably) very careful not to offend the Capo di Tutti Capi. Ratzinger is an ID man through and through, so Funes issues periodic statements where he says "on the one hand" and waves a big Hi in the direction of rational people and then "on the other" and runs back under Benedict's skirt. The poor man wants to be accepted as a serious scientist but works for people who regard science as something akin to what one scrapes from under one's shoe if one walks behind Benny Hinn long enough.

 

It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

 

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