# Pope Says Evolution and The Big Bang Are Real **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 29, 2014, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894 "2014-10-29T11:50:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/21 "2014-10-29T18:45:43Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Which goes to show how flawed and naive my gut understanding of Christianity is. Stupid to think that evangelicals would give a flying fuck what Catholics think, right? Not stupid, but naive, yes. Reactions I would expect from most YEC-fundamentalists fall somewhere in this range: “Whatever.” “Well, they’re not really Christian. Those Catholics down the street seem like nice folks, though–shame they’re going to burn in Hell. Maybe I ought to go witness to them after I finish my beer and hide the can.” “They’re Satanists! Of course they’d claim to believe in EVIL-lution!” On the bright side, I think that last position is less prevalent than it used to be…but that may only be because they’ve got more other groups to slap the “Satan” label on these days. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/22 "2014-10-29T19:19:01Z")
Back in '79 I was taught evolution in HS. At a Catholic high school and my teacher was a nun. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/23 "2014-10-29T19:46:45Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > Isn’t ID the same as creationism, only in pseudo-scientific terms? I think he is still weaseling. Not really. The Catholic form of theistic evolution, in my understanding, is that God invisibly loaded the dice so that intelligent creatures like us evolved. For instance, perhaps God nudged the asteroid that zapped the dinosaurs (non-avian ones.) There is absolutely no discovery about evolution that a Catholic would reject. Now Behe, who is Catholic, thought that he could find stuff that proved that the hand of God was involved He was wrong, but that in no way invalidates theistic evolution. I don’t buy it but there is no way of demonstrating whether or not God was invisibly involved. As for astronomy, I knew someone in college who is now an astronomer at the Vatican and I’d have a hard time believing his views on cosmology are distinguishable in any way from those of a purely secular astronomer. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/24 "2014-10-30T02:21:08Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > I agree with **JRDelirious** here. Catholicism hasn’t had any issue with TBBT or evolution in quite a long time. Some of my friends posted this and I went… “Um, guys, this has been Church position for quite some time”. And yes, some of them I’m sure have more sacraments done than I have. Heck, the RCC can even claim its own famous evolutionary biologist/paleontologist: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. [Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin) ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/25 "2014-10-30T02:30:58Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The Catholics have never had any serious issues with the scientific explanations for our origin and development, at least not since the Galilean days. Jesuits have been some of our greatest scientists. That they cling to an ambiguity about a prime mover being this god person instead of two random cosmic rays colliding is about their only conceit, and they’re modest about that in most discussions… This is central to Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “The Star”, an excellent SF work about scientists and the work they do. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/26 "2014-10-30T04:19:58Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Back in '79 I was taught evolution in HS. At a Catholic high school and my teacher was a nun. Yeah, and my Religion classes in the ‘70s included teaching that the idea of “God created the world in 6 24h days” doesn’t mesh up with the Genesis’ own descriptions (the 24h day would have been created on the 4th day)… well, they were supposed to include it; both times it was supposed to come up it was with priests who liked to start their lessons by asking for our opinions and, since we reached that conclussion by ourselves, we moved on to the next lesson. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/27 "2014-10-30T04:38:08Z")
\*\*Pope Says Evolution and The Big Bang Are Real \*\* Dudes will say anything to get laid. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/28 "2014-10-30T14:07:46Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > She says that the guy who came up with the Big Bang theory was a priest (I can’t be bothered to confirm that). Georges Lemaître > **[Georges Lemaître](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre)** > > Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître (/ləˈmɛtrə/ lə-MET-rə; .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}French: \[ʒɔʁʒ ləmɛːtʁ\] ⓘ; 17 July 1894 – 20 June 1966) was a Belgian Catholic priest, theoretical physicist, and mathematician who made major contributions to cosmology and astrophysics. He was the first to argue that the recession of gal ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/29 "2014-10-30T14:33:57Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > Isn’t ID the same as creationism, only in pseudo-scientific terms? I think he is still weaseling. It’s like God had _some_ influence (spark of life etc.) vs. every day between spin classes he decides to give this animal fins or this one frickin laser beams. > [@kk\_fusion](#): > > What I want is a clear renunciation of the “God created humans separately in their present form” nonsense that I keep hearing from quite a few followers of this man. You’re really gonna have to find references beyond anecdotes (e.g. Behe as mentioned). The official line can’t possibly be more explicit in rejecting that. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/30 "2014-10-30T17:01:00Z")
During my 12 years of Catholic education creationism came up… in religion classes. Science classes talked about evolution. Creationism was predominantly discussed in discussing other religions (both in grade school we had classes in other religious and spiritual traditions). I do remember it being explicitly discussed once in teaching about the Catholic faith. It was used an example of the difference between contextual reading of the bible (Catholic doctrine) and literal reading of the bible by some Christians. kk fusion - I don’t think you’ll get anything to satisfy you. The church acknowledges the science and being contexualists, Genesis doesn’t conflict with that. The creation story is a way to talk about the divine creating the universe not a literal play by play. It’s a story like the parables Jesus used to teach. They believe only humans have souls given by a creator though; we’re special even if our evolutionary cousins are soulless primates. That may lead to the confusion and you probably can’t clear that one up since there’s no “soul science.” ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/31 "2014-10-30T17:32:50Z")
Did anyone ever hear that it was a Catholic priest who came up with the Big Bang Theory…once, in 1931? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/32 "2014-10-30T18:12:54Z")
My church has \*\*always \*\*accepted that Evolution is simply the mechanism used when God created the planet. There’s no conflict between science and faith based religion. imho They easily can coexist. Science does not alter or threaten my faith in God. Glad to hear the Catholics are finally accepting reality. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/33 "2014-10-30T18:20:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Glad to hear the Catholics are finally accepting reality. Is that a woosh? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/34 "2014-10-30T18:25:24Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Is that a woosh? 😕 No not at all. Most mainstream churches accept science and medicine. It’s only the extreme fundamentalists that refuse to accept science or feel their faith is threatened by it. I never understood why the Catholic Church stubbornly refused to accept science. The Pope’s recent statements are a big step in the right direction. AFAIK the typical priest accepts Evolution and other science. The Jesuits being the most highly educated and trained in critical thinking. But officially the Church’s position has been different. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/35 "2014-10-30T18:29:06Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I never understood why the Catholic Church stubbornly refused to accept science. The Pope’s recent statements are a big step in the right direction. Have you even been reading this thread? Where do you get that “the Catholic Church stubbornly refused to accept science”? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/36 "2014-10-30T18:32:08Z")
You understand that for all its other faults, when it comes to the Big Bang and evolution the RCC has pretty much been the poster child for religion and science co-existing? Did you skip the 800 posts in this thread about Lemaitre? ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/37 "2014-10-30T18:34:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > My church has \*\*always \*\*accepted that Evolution is simply the mechanism used when God created the planet. There’s no conflict between science and faith based religion. imho They easily can coexist. Science does not alter or threaten my faith in God. > > Glad to hear the Catholics are finally accepting reality. What church is that, Our Lady of Little Comprehension? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/38 "2014-10-30T18:34:45Z")
I’m not Catholic. I don’t know jack about their official Church positions. I just know they threatened to burn the scientists at the stake in the Age of Renaissance. AFAIK the Catholic Church has never officially accepted Evolution. Just like they don’t accept birth control. I have no interest in Catholicism. I’m certainly not going to waste my time researching their official positions on every subject. I’m simply acknowledging that the Pope is bringing much needed clarity to an old issue. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/39 "2014-10-30T18:39:19Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m not Catholic. I don’t know jack about their official Church positions. I just know they threatened to burn the scientists at the stake in the Age of Renaissance. > > AFAIK the Church has never officially accepted Evolution. Just like they don’t accept birth control. The Renaissance was what, like 50 years ago? Let it go already. Too bad there’s not a thread where people can discuss the Church’s position. :smack::smack::smack: ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894/40 "2014-10-30T18:41:02Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’m not Catholic. I don’t know jack about their official Church positions. I just know they threatened to burn the scientists at the stake in the Age of Renaissance. > > AFAIK the Catholic Church has never officially accepted Evolution. Just like they don’t accept birth control. > > I really have no interest in Catholicism. I’m certainly not going to waste my time researching their official positions on every subject. No, but you could read the rest of this thread, to maybe, you know, fight your own ignorance on the subject? I just came in to add that in my Catholiuc High School, first week of Religion class, we were taught that the first part of Genesis, up to the Tower of Babel, was all didactic fiction, that is it is there to teach a lesson, and is not literally true. This was September of '84. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-says-evolution-and-the-big-bang-are-real/702894.md?page=3)