Lately I have been pondering the nature of this “vast and awesome Universe, as described by the late Jimmy Carter as he inscribed in his message on the Voyager Golden Record in the late 1970’s, presumably speaking to whomever we share this vast and awesome Universe with. As well as being President of the United States, he had a degree in science, was awarded the Nobel Peace prize and was a devout Christian. He saw no conflict between science and religion. He was truly blessed in being able to find that sweet merging point between faith and science. Not everyone does.
The Catholic church recently released a pontifical statement declaring officially that the on Catholic Church not only believes in science but that good Christians must be anti science is a myth. That would be music to the ears of Galileo who was tried for heresy in 1610 for daring to posit that the earth revolves around the sun instead of the other way around. But hey, as the saying goes – we’ve come a long way since then!
As readers of this blog will know, I attended a faith and science retreat with the Jesuit astronomers many years back and have been a supporter every since. I found this announcement in one of their newsletters otherwise I would likely not know about it. Because as a “lapsed Catholic” , I do not attend Church and although I do take some comfort in the rituals. And my larger and broader view of the Universe sometimes conflicts with the more traditional Catholic theology. Although I have nothing in common with fundamentalist Christians who cannot reconcile the Creation story with contemporary scientific explanations of cosmology and evolution, I respect their beliefs and their struggle. I get it- I really do. Everyone has their own journey in that regard. But I did find this pontifical statement to be a welcome clarification of the Catholic Church’s views on science. Concerned about the rise of misinformation and conspiracy theories which are anti science, the statement released some facts, which I strongly suspect, most people aren’t aware of.
First the new statement is from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences , “Protecting the Freedom of Science and Preventing Distortion of Scientific Truth” , and can be found in its entirety online. The statement is a robust defense of science which it believes to be ” fundamental to the development of mankind”. The statement is a timely reminder at a time when science is often controlled by elitist and political interests when it should always be open to new insights. It reminds us that the Church has been involved in astronomy since 1582 and some of the more famous scientific developments have been accomplished by Catholic priests. Some names you may not associate with important roles in science are Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics and how many people realise that the Big Bang theory was proposed by Georges Lemaitre who was a Catholic priest?
Kudos to the Catholic Church for taking such a brave stand on protecting the integrity of scientific inquiry, We are living in a time when , with the acceleration of artificial intelligence it is often difficult to distinguish between what it real and what is fake news. It seems incongruous but by preserving and protecting the authenticity of science, we are maintaining our connection to faith (whatever it may be ) but also our humanity.
What do you think?
M.A.N.
