The Extraterrestrial Is My Brother
Doctrinal flexebility has never come easily to the Catholic Church. Slow to sign on to the theory of heliocentrism and repeatedly suffering the embarrassment of finding themselves on the losing side of scientific debate, the Church has sought to learn from its mistakes, albeit...slowly.
Vatican chief astronomer Father José Gabriel Funes sounded the apologist in an interview with L'Osservatore Romano, the newsletter of the Vatican Observatory given last may. The interviewer asked the father whether the the possibility of extraterrestrial life could present a "...problem for our faith", to which Funes responded,
"As a multiplicity of creatures exist on earth, so there could be other beings, also intelligent, created by God. This does not contrast with our faith because we cannot put limits on the creative freedom of God."
When asked how theologians should handle the conflict between science and faith, Father Funes responded,
"The Church should not fear science and its discoveries."
but by the same token,
"...scientists should learn to correctly read the bible."
which, according to the father is:
"...a love letter that God wrote to his people, in a language that dates back two or three thousand years."
An amourous paean filled with famine, pestilence and genocide.
posted by Br. Benedict at
11:17 AM
1 Comments:
There is no conflict between faith and science. Man makes the conflict by mingling dogmatic doctrines contrived from our own need for ritual and ideology, instead of using the minds God gave us to understand the world, and universe around us.
Atheism is a doctrine of fear, created in the mind of man as means to explain away that which he cannot explain, much like religions that invent baseless doctrines and dogma to constrict free thought.
I like the idea of the Universal Life Church, and the "openness" to all beliefs and ideas, as this is the way to true enlightenment and understanding. The "free will" of thought, and the acceptance of all beliefs is the only true way to find God, and perhaps understanding him.
He's there. We all know he is. Atheists too. (they're just mad at him).
And allowing all people to express their own ideas, ask their own questions and determine their own answers, is the best way to help us all move a little closer to the truths we all seek.
A true church is a church who's doors, and minds, are open to, and for all.
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