Pope Francis Takes On A Pro-Science Stance; Talks About Climate Change, Evolution And The Big Bang Theory
Pope Francis, in October 2014, spoke about two major scientific concepts: the Big Bang and evolution, topics that usually religious believers tend to avoid. He spoke about it at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, science and religion are usually in conflict with one another. One author who believes in the conflict between science and religion and thinks that it totals to zero-sum is Sam Harris but now looks like Pope Francis is a prominent religious believer who has embraced the realities of science.
The new Pope is looking into issuing an encyclical about climate change as well as about human ecology. He has been active about taking care of the environment and has announced that Catholics should safeguard creation as if it is destroyed, then the creation will destroy humans.
Pope Francis also said, at a climate change conference in Peru, that the time to find solutions for global problems was running out. James West of Mother Jones, a magazine reporting on politics, environment and culture, while looking at the polling data, suggested that a huge number of Catholics in the US which include a majority of Hispanic Catholics, support action against climate change.
The new Pope said that he considered the Big Bang as the origin of the world. He went on to give an explanation that the Big Bang was not contradictory to the creative intervention of the Almighty God.
He went on to speak about evolution. He said that God was not a magician but was the Creator who brought everything in the Universe to life. He said that evolution was not inconsistent with the concept of creation as evolution was required for the beings that were created. It seemed like Pope Francis embraced the idea and concept of a God who created the Universe. The Universe created by Him is said to follow laws that has a scientific distinction.
Pope Francis' views is similar to that of Galileo's, who was a deeply religious scientist. Galileo was of the belief that the insights of Copernicus were compatible with the Holy Book of the Christians, the Bible.
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