Not My Pope

The last vestages of my faith died with John Paul II. Despite my disagreements with the most fundamental of principles, I always had the utmost respect for the guy, and I was sad to see him go. As far as popes go, he was a good one.

This Benedict XVI guy bothers me, though, and his eerie resemblance to a certain fictional emperor doesn't help.

So, the pope has fired the Vatican's chief astronomer because of his outspoken support for evolutionary theory and repeated dismissals of Intelligent Design. You may recall that the Vatican has supported Darwinian evolution since the days of Pope John XXIII, I believe.

Way to set the Catholic Church's credibility back 4 decades, there, Ben.

First of all, evolution is not a matter of faith any more than gravity is. It's been observed both directly and indirectly and has a firm grounding in science. Without our knowledge of evolution, we wouldn't have vaccines, medicine would still be primitive, and we'd have soaring death rates.

So, the current pope, who holds a great deal of influence over millions of people, is denying reality and promoting ignorance. Fantastic. And why?

Because it implies that humans aren't special? First of all, no it doesn't. Second of all, even if it did, so? Because it's consistant with an atheist worldview? So is the germ theory of disease and elemental periodicity. And besides, what's wrong with an atheist worldview?

The real tragedy, though, lies in the people without the testicular fortitude to think for themselves and tell the pope he's wrong about this particular issue.

While it doesn't concern me directly, it frightens me because it's yet another nail in the coffin of intellectualism and enlightenment.

The whole thing just reeks of the religious right's rampant regurgitation of ridiculous, repulsive rhetoric. It sickens me. I'm glad I left.

I can only hope it's just a big misunderstanding.

- Never Gonna Learn