Of Course You Realize This Means War Dept. The Discovery Institute’s reaction to an article in the Vatican’s official newspaper, critical of intelligent design and supporting the recent Dover, PA decision, is…sadly predictable.
The official Vatican newspaper published an article this week labeling as “correct” the recent decision by a judge in Pennsylvania that intelligent design should not be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution.
“If the model proposed by Darwin is not considered sufficient, one should search for another,” Fiorenzo Facchini, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Bologna, wrote in the Jan. 16-17 edition of the paper, L’Osservatore Romano.
“But it is not correct from a methodological point of view to stray from the field of science while pretending to do science,” he wrote, calling intelligent design unscientific. “It only creates confusion between the scientific plane and those that are philosophical or religious.”
The article was not presented as an official church position. But in the subtle and purposely ambiguous world of the Vatican, the comments seemed notable, given their strength on a delicate question much debated under the new pope, Benedict XVI.
Advocates for teaching evolution hailed the article. “He is emphasizing that there is no need to see a contradiction between Catholic teachings and evolution,” said Dr. Francisco J. Ayala, professor of biology at the University of California, Irvine, and a former Dominican priest. “Good for him.”
But Robert L. Crowther, spokesman for the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, a Seattle organization where researchers study and advocate intelligent design, dismissed the article and other recent statements from leading Catholics defending evolution. Drawing attention to them was little more than trying “to put words in the Vatican’s mouth,” he said.
Yeah, sure. The article just landed there by accident.