🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4NOV199211234121@csa1.lbl.gov>, sichase@csa1.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE) writes:
...
> I think that the Vatican statement is more general than you imply.  The 
> point is not that the Church now accepts that the world is Galilean.  Rather,
> it conceeds that physics is the right tool for understanding the physical
> world, and that the Church should not get involved in deciding whether or 
> not a particular cosmology is right or wrong.  
> 
> The statement accurately explains that Christians should not confuse
> Faith with the belief in any particular out-dated cosmology.  
> 
> I think that this is a very positive attitude, and hope that the 
> Pat Buchannans and Pat Robertsons of the world take it to heart.

I would not be so optimistic. It is easy for the Vatican to make this
concession today. No one but a handful of religious fanatics believes
that religion should be in the cosmology business. The battles of today
concern such issues as abortion and bith control where both science and
religion feel they have a legitimate role to play.  The Vatican's stand
and influence on birth control in third world countries is responsible
for far more human misery today than the inquisition ever was.

Paul Budnik