Why I Still Talk to Jesus -- In Spite of Everything
Pope Francis I stated that God should not seen as a “magician with a magic wand.” Pope Francis also said that evolution and the Big Bang theory are both true. In other words he believes in paradox!
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis on Monday (Oct. 27) waded into the controversial debate over the origins of human life, saying the big bang theory did not contradict the role of a divine creator, but even required it.
The pope was addressing the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which gathered at the Vatican to discuss “Evolving Concepts of Nature.”
“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” Francis said.
“He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment.”
Francis said the beginning of the world was not “a work of chaos” but created from a principle of love. He said sometimes competing beliefs in creation and evolution could co-exist.
“The Big Bang, which today we hold to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator but, rather, requires it,” Francis explained. ”Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.”
The pope’s views are a huge step for the Catholic Church. His is an especially groundbreaking stance in terms of evolution. The theory, broadly accepted by the majority of scientists, is still under attack by Young Earth Creationists, evangelicals, radical Muslims, and it is taught alongside the pseudo-science of creationism in American schools.
Some mainstream politicians even try to distance themselves from the term “evolution.”
Thank you Pope Francis for a bit of sanity in a loony religious world!
Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book —WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace
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