“Science is about the Age of Rocks, religion tells us about the Rock of Ages” – or so the late Dr. Stephen J. Gould is frequently quoted as having written. It’s a clever quip – one I’ve heard often repeated, both humorously and seriously; however…
What Pope Francis has set down in this Encyclical is not perfect; as some have already pointed out it leaves out the idea that an ever-expanding global population is ecologically unsustainable even with greater care of the planet. However it is a a more far-reaching statement about the connection between the health of the planet and the health of humanity than I have ever known to have be written by any religious leader of comparable authority. Yes, it is a religious treatise but it is also an environmental one and even – as he draws heavily upon biology, chemistry, ecology, and climatology – a scientific one.
Not so very long ago, in the middle of a casual chat with a long-time acquaintance in a local café, I made a comment that changed the entire direction of the conversation, “You know, just this morning I read in the Qur’ān that…” No sooner had I finished my sentence than my conversational partner – […]
It is too easily forgotten that some of the world’s greatest naturalists were also devoutly religious; Darwin himself studied to be a clergyman prior to his sailing on the H.M. S. Beagle.