Humanism in its most virulent form tries to make science into a religion. It is awash with the intolerance of enthusiasm. For a start, there is the near-hysterical repudiation of religion. To quote Richard Dawkins: “I think there’s something very evil about faith … it justifies essentially anything. If you’re taught in your holy book Read more
The tutorial in 8th grade biology that Republicans got after one of their members of Congress went public with something from the wackosphere was instructive, and not just because it offered female anatomy lessons to those who get their science from the Bible. Take a look around key committees of the House and you’ll find a Read more
There is no conflict between evolutionary biology and belief in God, two professors have asserted during a session on faith and science during the international Rimini Meeting in Italy. The annual event, in the northern Italian resort city of Rimini, brings together international experts on religion, politics, economics, science and the arts to debate cutting-edge Read more
1. What Are Fermi Bubbles? No, this is not a rare digestive disorder. The bubbles are massive, mysterious structures that emanate from the Milky Way’s center and extend roughly 20,000 light-years above and below the galactic plane. The strange phenomenon, first discovered in 2010, is made up of super-high-energy gamma-ray and X-ray emissions, invisible to the Read more
Professor Richard Dawkins and Sydney’s Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, battled it out for an hour on Australian Television. In a debate that the Sydney Morning Herald says bordered on barely concealed mutual disdain, boiled over more than once and the Science v God, Atheist v Belief, Logic v Faith debate left all parties bruised. Pell was given Read more
Brother Guy Consolmagno gets a lot of interesting looks and questions when he tells people he’s an astronomer for the Vatican Observatory. “That’s the reason the Vatican has an observatory, precisely so people will get that puzzled look on their face,” jokes the affable American, who’s visiting Vancouver to help Catholics celebrate the 400th anniversary Read more
Pope Benedict XVI met with participants of the International Conference “Adult Stem Cells: Science and the Future of Man and Culture”, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture. In his address, the Holy Father spoke about the “truly remarkable contributions” science can make to promoting and safeguarding human dignity. At the same time, he warned that scientists must be attentive to ethical concerns in pursuing their research, so that the inviolable dignity of each human being is never compromised.
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Naive credulity is dangerous in any field of knowledge. The claims science and religion both require legitimate scrutiny. Being a person of faith does not exclude the legitimate scrutiny of the claims made in the name of religion. Failing to do so can give rise to cults, persecutions and the destruction of human dignity. Science is not without its own of deceptions and dangerous and falsities. Being Read more
Former leader of the east-German communists, Gregor Gysi, on Friday, praised Pope Benedict for consistently preaching that modern society must have moral norms in order to function properly. “It won’t work without the concept of the good,” Gysi wrote. “But modern science can’t tell us what is good. Its concepts focus on empirical experience. Ideas such Read more
Economics is not a business science, although it has applications to business. Rather, it is part of the liberal arts and is a science of human action. Economics studies the actions that most people take in response to circumstances in their lives, but especially those actions that are visible to us. This is why economists Read more