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> That is without doubt the single stupidest argument for the incompatibility of science and religion I have ever heard. Sorry you think so. Perhaps I wasn’t
by alanh 14y ago
> That is without doubt the single stupidest argument for the incompatibility of science and religion I have ever heard.
Sorry you think so.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough.
The purpose of this thought/actual experiment was to highlight the drastic difference between the official sort-of-maybe-mostly-okay-with-science line of the Vatican elite with the everyday reality of Catholicism and of the Catholic parishners. For example, while, as noted in this thread, evolution has been OK with Catholic leaders since 1996 (what pioneers! — pardon, that was rhetoric) — ahem, since 1996, my sister, born in that year, was skeptical that dinosaurs were not a hoax of museums since they were obviously incompatible with her strict Catholic upbringing.
(And good on her: she should doubt anything fanciful, though obviously in this case the facts are on the side of, you know, dinosaurs.)
Never does a Catholic priest remind his congregation that Adam & Eve (and thus original sin, as known to laity) is a myth.
Never does he encourage them to think critically.
What he does do is expect them to act as one entity playing their part in perhaps the most extensive hierarchy ever created.
Hierarchy is another antithesis to science.
Can I stop arguing yet?
- lief79 14y agoI'll readily agree that there are Catholics who are opposed to science, and that these individuals are unfortunately more likely to end up in the roles of priests or religious teachers. These are often the same individuals who know the book knowledge perfectly, but have no clue how to practice it with compassion. I'm sorry you've been stuck dealing with them. The trick with myths is that they still teach a story. In this case, the trick with Adam and Eve is that the Church still believes in original sin, and considers it a heresy to teach against this. You can look up Pelagianism, if you are curious. The only point I'll really disagree with is: Never does he encourage them to think critically. The best priests will do this, and I've seen it done often. You can think critically constructively or destructively. I've seen numerous priests properly encourage people to look up what the church actually teaches, and to take the time to understand why. I'm Catholic despite my Catholic education, because I took the time to look at the morality text book and tried to argue against all the teachings. I discovered I personally agreed with most of them. Finally, I like a number of individuals in the church, but I can't stand the hierarchy. They are humans and far too often lack the humility required in proper Christian leadership. Additionally, far too many of them DO push blind obedience, which is probably one of many reasons why church attendance has been dropping. tldr(or possibly a Summary): There are many things to disagree with the Catholic church on, but claiming they deem religion and science as incompatible is mistaken. There are even more reasons to disagree with individual members of the hierarchy in what they say and do, but don't mistake individual human flaws with the institution, and don't mistake the current form of the institution with the full beliefs of the religion.