• Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    The Catholic priest Georges Lemaitre, who died in 1966, discovered the Big Bang.

    In Steven Hawkings’ book A Brief History of Time, Hawking described meeting with the Pope and the Pope told him how the Big Bang theory was great but don’t go searching for the cause of the Big Bang.

    I think that perfectly illustrates the difference between scientists who are religious and the Church itself.

    • Zloubida@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The Church (we should even say “the Churches”) is a very complex structure. However you’re partly right, and as an institution, the Catholic Church tends to be quite conservative, but it’s still better than most Evangelical Churches, which are against science altogether…

      Still, I have read an article (I can search it if you are interested) that showed that 30% of professional scientists were affiliated to a religion. It’s far less than the general population, but it’s not nothing; religion and science can work together, as long as both stay in their line.

      • MrJameGumb@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        religion and science can work together, as long as both stay in their line.

        That sounds like the exact opposite of “working together”

        • Zloubida@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Bad choice of words, you’re right ^^. Science and religion work together like two workers on an assembly line. One takes care of screwing, the other of nailing; if the nailer tries to screw with his hammer, it’s not going to work… when people read the Bible to look for biological or astronomical truths, that doesn’t work either.

          • MrJameGumb@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            One takes care of screwing

            I can agree the church certainly has screwed a lot of people over the years…

            You’re really throwing out some softballs here dude 😆

    • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 months ago

      It shows a lack of imagination considering brane theory posits the big bang event was a natural event in a larger manifold and Hawking suggests the axis of time we know started with the big bang. There is no before for anything to exist, including God.