# God was behind Big Bang, universe no accident: Pope **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618 "2011-01-06T16:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/1 "2011-01-06T16:01:04Z")
> [@](#): > > God’s mind was behind complex scientific theories such as the Big Bang, and Christians should reject the idea that the universe came into being by accident, Pope Benedict said on Thursday. > > “The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe,” Benedict said on the day Christians mark the Epiphany, the day the Bible says the three kings reached the site where Jesus was born by following a star. > > “Contemplating it (the universe) we are invited to read something profound into it: the wisdom of the creator, the inexhaustible creativity of God,” he said in a sermon to some 10,000 people in St Peter’s Basilica on the feast day. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110106/sc\_nm/us\_pope\_bigbang](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110106/sc_nm/us_pope_bigbang) I don’t know. Reading that headline I get this mental image of God lighting the fuse of a Really Big Firecracker, giggling to Himself, then creating a rock that He then hides behind, Wile E. Coyote-like. (Can God make a rock so big the Big Bang can’t pick it up?) “What happened to the kaboom? There was supposed to be a universe-creating kaboom!” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/2 "2011-01-06T16:07:02Z")
And when the Celestial Firecracker goes off, the rock flips over on top of God. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/3 "2011-01-06T16:07:26Z")
NOTHING NEW HERE I was raised Catholic. It was always accepted/taught/understood that the Big Bang was just God setting things in motion, etc. Further, evolution was accepted and taught. Pope is Catholic (I know! News Flash – right?). Anyway, I am 43 and these teachings go back to the 1970’s, so the Pope isn’t adding even one iota of anything new to the basic teachings of Catholicism going back three decades or more. … ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/4 "2011-01-06T16:08:11Z")
Damn! CM beat me by 10 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/5 "2011-01-06T16:10:33Z")
“as some would want to make us believe”? How evil of them! ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/6 "2011-01-06T16:10:43Z")
Eh, that sounds exactly like the kind of stuff a Pope is supposed to say. **Big Bang an accident, God had nothing to do with it: Pope** … Now \*there’s \*a headline! ---
**Author:** ![Leon497](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Leon497](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leon497)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/7 "2011-01-06T16:39:41Z")
I sure see nothing new here and support that he said it to remind people. I do wish he had gone further, saying that when science sets up all these laws and actions and then something does not fit, well they just attribute it to magic as well as we do to God. An example is the silly “inflation” idea. After all the experts said nothing could exceed the speed of light because it would be impossible to have the energy to accelerate mass faster, well well here comes inflation saying it did do that “somehow” by magic laws we don’t know that then went away. Why is that any more scientific than just saying maybe God did in fact do it? Well it isn’t. I look next for the magic law that creates life and then disappears, bet science cannot find that one either and will be right there with the “it happened somehow” while assuring us there was no creator. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/8 "2011-01-06T16:41:40Z")
No, no. The Big Bang came _**[from](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGIen0Pp7TQ)**_ God’s behind. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/9 "2011-01-06T16:41:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Reading that headline I get this mental image of God lighting the fuse of a Really Big Firecracker, giggling to Himself, then creating a rock that He then hides behind, Wile E. Coyote-like. Here I always thought the Big Bang was one of God’s farts. Edit: damn, garygnu beat me by seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/10 "2011-01-06T16:44:22Z")
It’s the Catholic Church’s way of saying that they support science. They’ve made similar statements about evolution, like that they believe God was behind it and they still support the scientific consensus on evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/11 "2011-01-06T16:51:55Z")
I wonder if god said > [@](#): > > Hey Ya’ll watch this ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/12 "2011-01-06T16:58:58Z")
Or rather: _1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Hold my beer and watch this!” and there was one big-ass explosion._ 4 And God said “I meant to do that.” And there was light.\* \*As opposed to a “big ass-explosion” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/13 "2011-01-06T17:49:21Z")
Better than if he said it didn’t happen, but as to whether it was accidental or not I can only quote radio’s Baron Munchausen, Jack Pearl: > [@The Baron](#): > > BARON: Vass you dere, Sharlie? ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/14 "2011-01-06T18:03:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > 3 And God said, “Hold my beer and watch this!” and there was one big-ass explosion.\* > > \*As opposed to a “big ass-explosion” [Relevant xkcd link](http://xkcd.com/37/) (although **Gyrate** ’s is actually funnier than Monroe’s) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/15 "2011-01-06T18:07:39Z")
Would you rather have the Pope going around saying there wasn’t a big bang and the universe was made in 6 days about 6000 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/16 "2011-01-06T18:19:17Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > Anyway, I am 43 and these teachings go back to the 1970’s, so the Pope isn’t adding even one iota of anything new to the basic teachings of Catholicism going back three decades or more. > > .. I’m not Catholic, nor was I raised Catholic–but most of my friends were, and I did attend a Catholic high school. My experience was similar to yours. I was taught that the Big Bang and Evolution happened, but did so according to God’s plan. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/17 "2011-01-06T18:21:50Z")
And the Big Bang theory WAS proposed by a [Catholic priest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre). ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/18 "2011-01-06T18:22:44Z")
\*In the beginning, there was nothing. And the Lord said, “Let there be light!” And then… there was still nothing. But you could see it. \* ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/19 "2011-01-06T18:58:05Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > [Yahoo News: Latest and Breaking News, Headlines, Live Updates, and More](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110106/sc_nm/us_pope_bigbang) > I don’t know. Reading that headline I get this mental image of God lighting the fuse of a Really Big Firecracker, giggling to Himself, then creating a rock that He then hides behind, Wile E. Coyote-like. > > … I feel like I should comment but I actually have nothing to say. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618/20 "2011-01-06T19:25:46Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I feel like I should comment but I actually have nothing to say. Maybe you could waggle your eyebrows or something. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-was-behind-big-bang-universe-no-accident-pope/566618.md?page=2)