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Talking Science and God With the Pope's New Chief Astronomer
sciencehabit writes: On 18 September, Pope Francis appointed Jesuit brother Guy Consolmagno as the new director of the Vatican Observatory, which employs a dozen astronomers to study asteroids, meteorites, extrasolar planets, stellar evolution, and cosmology. The observatory is based at the pope's summer residence south of Rome and operates a 1.8-meter telescope in Arizona, where the skies are clearer. Science Magazine chatted with Consolmagno about a variety of topics, including whether God gets in the way of doing good astronomy. Consolmagno said, "First of all, I want to provide space for other astronomers to do their work. And I also want to show the world that religion supports astronomy. It is often religious people who most need to see that; they need to know that astronomy is wonderful and that they shouldn't be afraid of it. I often quote John Paul II, when he said [of evolution] that "truth cannot contradict truth." If you think you already know everything about the world, you are not a good scientist, and if you think you know all there is to know about God, then your religious faith is at fault."
The Catholic church has always been supportive of science, though. The main reason there was such a fuss was because some scientists didn't like their control over science, but the whole reason they had that much control was that they'd set up the entire university system to begin with.
Hate can't exist if an infinite God of love exists.
Well, the Abrahamic God (of Judaism, Christianity and Islam) is a hands-off kind of God, giving the human race free will and all that. So, we're free to hate even though He discourages it.
I'm not trying to be churchy, just informative. You have every right to conceive of God's existence or lack thereof in your own way. I'm just saying that the Abrahamic God (as described in the Old Testament) gives the human race free will.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
about the world, you are not a good scientist," except when talking about global warming, because that science is settled.
I'll feed the Troll. Not knowing everything is not the same as not knowing anything.
Some privacy policy Slashdot.
Because the liberals agree with global warming. When the issue is something conservatives believe in, like anti-abortion, despite it being scientifically proven that babies can, after about 4 months, move, have a heartbeat and brain, sense pain, and react to stimuli, the science is ignored and remains unsettled (if not directly ignored in favor of whatever the liberals are pushing at the moment).
So can a chick fetus, just after a few days, even.
But neither case resolves the question of whether the fetus has a right to life. And even if it did, it wouldn't answer the question of whether that right trumps that of the person carrying it. And even of it did, it doesn't answer the question of whether the person carrying the fetus has the power to make a decision to terminate, for example in the case of severe malformations.
But, hey, conservatives live in a world that is much more black & white than the rest of us. So I can't expect you to recognize the legitimacy of those questions. Nor even the legitimacy of whether society has a right to settle those questions instead of deferring to the woman, given how they relate to bodily integrity, how complex the issues are, and how entirely inconsequential (in real terms, not moral) the decision to abort is to society.
Thank you for giving us permission to think. Now that I finally have that freedom I have to ask; is there a hands-on kind of god?
Yes, their names are available in the Fortune list of global banks and corporations. You are free to worship in any of their churches and tithe all of your earnings there. These gods are very interested in every single little detail of your life and will stop at nothing to get involved with you as much as possible. They're happy to influence your destiny, they just don't want you to know that they do.
You're free to "think" you are free whether you believe in God or not.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
The god of the new testament is somewhat kinder if only by its absence. But the god of the old testament is as far as "hand off" as you can be.
As much as knew it to be for the best, it was difficult for me to be a hands-off parent for my first daughter. It was easier for me with my second daughter an now with my third child as well. But for new parents, and presumably new gods, it may be difficult to sit back and to let our children make the mistakes that they need to make.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.