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Evolutionary biologist and provocative atheist Richard Dawkins will be appearing during Writers’ Week during the 2016 New Zealand festival. Dawkins, who is now 74, previously appeared at the New Zealand Festival in 2010. In an article in the New Zealand Listener, Diana Wichtel described him as “a scientist, a writer, a performer, a public intellectual, an Read more
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Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gave a inspirational address on Monday at the Humanum conference at the Vatican on the complementarity of man and woman. It ranges over the whole history of marriage and concludes with a brilliant image: marriage turns “the prose of biology into the poetry of the human spirit”. I want this morning to Read more
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Pope Francis has said that both the Big Bang theory, about the start of the universe, and the theory of evolution do not conflict with Catholic teaching. Speaking to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Monday, Pope Francis said scientific explanations for the world did not exclude the role of God in creation. “The beginning Read more
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Israel’s Education Ministry has announced that evolution will be taught in its middle school curriculum. Up to now, only the biblical account of the origins of humanity had been taught at this level, to grade eight and nine students. Darwin’s theory was only taught to high school students studying biology. An education sector spokeswoman said Read more
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A Catholic scientist known for his public defence of evolution is to receive a prestigious honour from a top American university. Professor Kenneth Miller, a biologist at Brown University, is to receive the University of Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal. A previous recipient was President John F. Kennedy. “Like many other scientists who hold the Catholic Read more
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Over a pint of beer, the great biologist, polymath and pub-lover J B S Haldane was asked if he would give his life to save his drowning brother. He is supposed to have said: ‘No, but I would to save two brothers, or eight cousins.’ He was referring to one of evolution’s puzzles: why animals Read more
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First of all, I would like to congratulate Pope Francis I on his election, becoming the first South American to head the Vatican. Although the Church has been having some serious trouble over the last decade with numerous scandals and harsh although often warranted criticism, I feel his election is an appropriate step in the Read more
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In this month’s edition of its members’ magazine Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) printed the list which names 21 organisations that registered interest in charter schools – almost half of them religious groups. The PPTA’s list includes a Feilding Church, The Sabbath Rest Adventist Church. Trustee Jill Friar says the church had been interested in the Read more
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The evolutionary laws of heredity and genetic mutation pose no conflict to the Catholic faith, the chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences said during a meeting held to discuss the evolution of mankind. However, said Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the beginning of the universe — “the transition from nothing to being” — is not Read more
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American sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson is championing a controversial new approach for explaining the origins of virtue and sin. In an interview, the world-famous ant reseacher explains why he believes the inner struggle is the characteristic trait of human nature. Edward O. Wilson doesn’t come across as the kind of man who’s looking to pick Read more
Bernadette Avison
Michael
Kieran
Christina Maria Reymer
Grant Allen
