Saturday, February 10, 2007
Timeless Truths
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna says the Dover intelligent design ruling means that schoolchildren will only be taught a materialistic, atheistic view of the origin of universe, without considering the idea that God played a role, according to Rachel Zoll of the Associated Press.
"Commonly in the scientific community every inquiry into the scientific weaknesses of the theory is blocked off at the very outset," the cardinal said a speech Wednesday night sponsored by the Homeland Foundation, "To some extent there prevails a type of censoring here of the sort for which one eagerly reproached the church in former times."
The cardinal is wrong on both counts. Children will be taught the evidence for evolution. Children will learn nothing of materialism or atheism in public school science classes.
Moreover, there is no censorship in the scientific community. All that is required is that evidence be presented to support one's views. Since there is no scientific evidence of God, that is a belief based on faith, and the so-called weaknesses are merely disproven creationist talking points, backed up by zero evidence, they are not presented in the classroom.
Censorship? It seems the cardinal and his born-again allies are free to speak out -- as they do incessantly -- as much as they wish. Who is stopping them?
As a former Catholic who grew up in the largely Protestant Midwest, I'm surprised that the cardinal has aligned himself with right-wing fundamentalist forces who believe the Pope is the whore of Babylon and that Catholics, like Jews and Muslims, will be consigned to hell.
I wonder how the cardinal will feel when the fundamentalists begin agitating to teach those timeless truths to young Catholics in public schools.
"Commonly in the scientific community every inquiry into the scientific weaknesses of the theory is blocked off at the very outset," the cardinal said a speech Wednesday night sponsored by the Homeland Foundation, "To some extent there prevails a type of censoring here of the sort for which one eagerly reproached the church in former times."
The cardinal is wrong on both counts. Children will be taught the evidence for evolution. Children will learn nothing of materialism or atheism in public school science classes.
Moreover, there is no censorship in the scientific community. All that is required is that evidence be presented to support one's views. Since there is no scientific evidence of God, that is a belief based on faith, and the so-called weaknesses are merely disproven creationist talking points, backed up by zero evidence, they are not presented in the classroom.
Censorship? It seems the cardinal and his born-again allies are free to speak out -- as they do incessantly -- as much as they wish. Who is stopping them?
As a former Catholic who grew up in the largely Protestant Midwest, I'm surprised that the cardinal has aligned himself with right-wing fundamentalist forces who believe the Pope is the whore of Babylon and that Catholics, like Jews and Muslims, will be consigned to hell.
I wonder how the cardinal will feel when the fundamentalists begin agitating to teach those timeless truths to young Catholics in public schools.
