Sunday, June 18, 2006

More from Stephen Hawking: Science and Religion

Physicist Stephen Hawking recalled a meeting he and other scientists had with Pope John Pull II at the Vatican, discussing the relation of science and religion.
Hawking said the pope told the scientists, "It's OK to study the universe and where it began. But we should not inquire into the beginning itself because that was the moment of creation and the work of God."

A probably more accurate description of the meaning of JPII's statement has been provided by Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
"Here is what the Pope actually said: ‘Every scientific hypothesis about the origin of the world, such as the one that says that there is a basic atom from which the whole of the physical universe is derived, leaves unanswered the problem concerning the beginning of the universe. By itself science cannot resolve such a question.’ The Pope then quoted Pope Pius XII as saying, ‘We would wait in vain for an answer from the natural sciences which declare, on the contrary, that they honestly find themselves faced with an insoluble enigma.’

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