Re: [asa] Vatican Astronomer Replaced

It may be worth noting that Coyne was 73 years old in January so that at
least the ostensible reason for his replacement could be his age. (His
successor, Funes, is either 43 or 45 depending on which account you pull
up.) Of course this doesn't mean that Benedict might not have been happy to
have him eased him out gracefully.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Todd Pedlar" <pedlto01@luther.edu>
To: "Pim van Meurs" <pimvanmeurs@yahoo.com>; "Jim Armstrong"
<jarmstro@qwest.net>
Cc: <asa@calvin.edu>; <pedlto01@luther.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] Vatican Astronomer Replaced

> On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:04:43 -0500, Pim van Meurs <pimvanmeurs@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Aha heretical beliefs. Sounds like you oppose intelligent design as well
>> as Ann Coulter as well then? Or are heretical beliefs just in the eye of
>> the beholder.
>> Perhaps Janice can point us to some examples of Coyne's position?
>
> Perhaps you didn't read the quotation pulled from Coyne's
> own conference notes, which are available at:
>
> http://www.aei.org/docLib/20051027_HandoutCoyne.pdf
>
> The quotation from Janice's earlier posting (below your
> remarks, but perhaps you missed them in your haste to
> post your comments) is:
>
> "If we take the results of modern science seriously, it is difficult to
> believe that God is omnipotent and omniscient in the sense of the
> scholastic philosophers. Science tells us of a god who must be very
> different from God as seen by the medieval philosophers and theologians.
> Let us ask the hard question. Could, for instance, God after a billion
> years in a fourteen billion year old universe have predicted that human
> life would come to be? Let us suppose that God possessed the theory of
> everything, knew all the laws of physics, all the fundamental forces. Even
> then could God know with certainty that human life would come to be? If we
> truly accept the scientific view that, in addition to necessary processes
> and the immense opportunities offered by the universe, there are also
> chance processes, then it would appear that not even God could know the
> outcome with certainty. God cannot know what is not knowable."
>
> By every standard I'm aware of, those remarks are heretical. They
> have made a man out of God, a limited being that is incapable of
> understanding his own creation... and presume limitations on Him that
> are contrary to the Bible's teaching.
>
> Sorry, Pim, but Janice is right here to point out the heresy involved
> in Coyne's remarks. I know you see eye to eye with Janice on just
> about nothing, but at least you should be able to admit that his
> ideas run contrary to the teaching (at least) of the Roman Catholic
> church. We won't get into how far astray his ideas have fallen from
> Biblical truth.
>
> Todd
> ___________________________________________________
> Todd K. Pedlar
> Assistant Professor of Physics, Luther College
> pedlto01@luther.edu
> ___________________________________________________
> "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and
> won't change the subject." -- Winston Churchill
>
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Received on Tue Aug 22 17:54:29 2006