Happy Darwin Day!

[Lutin]

Hi everyone,

Happy Darwin Day! Today (12/2/09) is Darwin's 200th birthday, and this year is the 150th anniversary of the publication of his On the Origin of Species.

Just thought I'd share. Hope everyone has a great day.

Will

[sarahb]

I just watched Darwin's Secret Journals last night. Yay for Darwin! Happy birthday!

[placeholdername]

You had me confused with the 12/2/09 bit for a second there.  Guess I need to evolve better.

[tekla]

That's OK, Darwin is dead, he ain't evolving much anymore either.

The Catholic Church on the other hand, does seem to be evolving, somewhat.

The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin was on the right track when he claimed that Man descended from apes.

A leading official declared yesterday that Darwin's theory of evolution was compatible with Christian faith, and could even be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. "In fact, what we mean by evolution is the world as created by God," said Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The Vatican also dealt the final blow to speculation that Pope Benedict XVI might be prepared to endorse the theory of Intelligent Design, whose advocates credit a "higher power" for the complexities of life.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5705331.ece

[Buffy]

As a Scientist, I firmly believe we should really embrace the concepts of both evolution and creationism.

My own beliefs are that God created the heaven and the earth in 6 days and on the Sunday went to church and told his followers the big bang theory and evolution where a conspiracy theory. He and his followers then went out for a meal which started with a very nice primevil soup.

The good thing about Darwinism and creationism is that both arguements may never be proved and are always open to debate.

Buffy

[tekla]

Honey if you really believe that your science is behind that of the Catholic Church, which puts you only a few centuries behind the times.

[Buffy]

Honey if you really believe that your science is behind that of the Catholic Church, which puts you only a few centuries behind the times.

Lol... Americans have never understood sarcasm.

[Just Kate]

Lol... Americans have never understood sarcasm.

Next time hold up a sign.  I missed 'Interpreting Sarcasm from Drivel 101' during my silly American education - must have been an elective.

BTW 3 cheers to anyone who gets the sign reference.

EDIT: Oh, and ra ra happy Darwzin day and all that jazz.  Now where IS that fish with legs banner?

[Arch]

William, ya beat me to it. I am a big Darwin fan and was about to post something about his birthday.

I just fished my Darwin t-shirt out of the dryer and will be wearing it to work tomorrow. (Was that pun too obvious?)

[Cindy]

I'm sure Buffy was having a joke.

You can prove evolution every day in any microbiolgy lab. You can prove it in humans. You can prove it in  animals. Err, never heard of the blood stock industry?
I think the biggest problem wth the "Origin of Species" was that it so long to be released by Darwin.  It was because of bigotry. There were  many scientists who had formulated the same belief but society was not ready to hear them.

Cindy J

[Pica Pica]

lord monboddo put forward an evolutionary theory in the mid 1700s, also adding that there was a relationship to apes. He never lived it down.

[Lutin]

Now where IS that fish with legs banner?

I'm wearing a T-shirt with it now - a giant Darwin fish, and underneath it it says "We have the fossils. We win."

My own beliefs are that God created the heaven and the earth in 6 days and on the Sunday went to church and told his followers the big bang theory and evolution where a conspiracy theory. He and his followers then went out for a meal which started with a very nice primevil soup.

Mmmmm...primeval soup... Fish soup, perchance?

You had me confused with the 12/2/09 bit for a second there.  Guess I need to evolve better.

Sorry. Yeah, Down Under, Britain and most other countries tend to use the 'little endian' system of writing dates, whereas the US, Canada and a few others use the 'middle endian' system, so whenever I see dates on the internet written like that I always have to figure out which system they're using. Most other aspects of life are complicated, why make dating systems easy?

And I thought there was something fishy in what you said, Arch...

[tekla]

Lol... Americans have never understood sarcasm

No, we just like to confine it to the entertainment branch of American Business, which is politics.  And religion.  One of our home grown religions is Christian Science, which is an awesome name for people who don't believe in science.  Another one practiced strict celibacy and wondered why they died out.  And another one made claims that made the Christian claims look almost rational.

[mina.magpie]

The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin was on the right track when he claimed that Man descended from apes.

A leading official declared yesterday that Darwin's theory of evolution was compatible with Christian faith, and could even be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. "In fact, what we mean by evolution is the world as created by God," said Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The Vatican also dealt the final blow to speculation that Pope Benedict XVI might be prepared to endorse the theory of Intelligent Design, whose advocates credit a "higher power" for the complexities of life.

Please tell me that's not a hoax, because I am ... sceptical, to say the least.

Mina.

[tekla]

No, its the Catholic Church being it's standard 100 years behind the times.  Its very real dear.  When I went to Catholic School we were taught all of that in science, and I doubt if you get any 'creationism' BS in Notre Dame, or USF, or Georgetown, or Boston College either.  We leave that stuff to the Prots.

[mina.magpie]

No, its the Catholic Church being it's standard 100 years behind the times.  Its very real dear.  When I went to Catholic School we were taught all of that in science, and I doubt if you get any 'creationism' BS in Notre Dame, or USF, or Georgetown, or Boston College either.  We leave that stuff to the Prots.

O_O

There is no way this is not too good to be true. I mean ... OMG, this is HUGE. Granted, most Christians don't actually listen to the Vatican anymore, but still ...

I don't know how to process this information. O_o

Mina.

... My first instinct though is to go tell all those Bible Bashers of my youth to Stick It Where the Sun Don't Shine ...

... Perhaps that's a bit crude. "Eat that Suckers!" might be more appropriate.

[tekla]

But apparently the organisers have relented, and will consider Intelligent Design as a "cultural phenomenon" rather than as a valid scientific theory, giving US-based IDers the chance to be smirked at by a room full of Monseigneurs, Cardinals and Bishops.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/11/vatican_on_darwin/


Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans in 1950 and Pope John Paul reiterated that in 1996. But Ravasi said the Vatican had no intention of apologizing for earlier negative views.

"Maybe we should abandon the idea of issuing apologies as if history was a court eternally in session," he said, adding that Darwin's theories were "never condemned by the Catholic Church nor was his book ever banned".

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSLG62672220080916

The church first officially cast a favorable eye on evolution in a 1950 encyclical, Umani Generis, by Pope Pius XII. John Paul, in a speech before a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican this week, said that while the encyclical ``considered the doctrine of `evolutionism' as a serious hypothesis ... new knowledge leads us to recognize in the theory of evolution more than a hypothesis. ... The convergence ... of results of work done independently one from the other constitute in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory.''

http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Resources/vatican_admits_darwin_correct.htm

[lisagurl]

Christian Science, which is an awesome name for people who don't believe in science.

LOL  My room mate at college grew up with the religion of Christian Science. He would not take medicines when he was sick but he majored in Physics and went to work for KMS Fusion when he graduated.

[mina.magpie]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/11/vatican_on_darwin/

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSLG62672220080916

http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Resources/vatican_admits_darwin_correct.htm

Oay, okay, I believe you! Thanks for absolutely making my day Tekla. 

Mina.