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May 10, 2006

Vatican Astronomer: Creationism is “Superstitious Paganism”

Here's one for the history books. According to Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno, believing in the Biblical account of a six day creation is a form of superstitious paganism.

Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a "destructive myth" had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.

He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a "kind of paganism" because it harked back to the days of "nature gods" who were responsible for natural events.

Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. "Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That's why science and religion need to talk to each other," he said.

"Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism - it's turning God into a nature god. And science needs religion in order to have a conscience, to know that, just because something is possible, it may not be a good thing to do."

Wow. It makes so much sense, it's scary. And Consolmagno even went so far as to debunk the concept of papal infallibility, calling it a "PR disaster."

What it actually meant was that, on matters of faith, followers should accept "somebody has got to be the boss, the final authority… It's not like he has a magic power, that God whispers the truth in his ear," he said.

Considering that Pope Benedict XVI is widely thought to be very traditional, Consolmagno's outspokenness in these matters is surprising. It will be interesting to see whether and how the Vatican responds.

Posted by Becky at May 10, 2006 09:54 AM

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