A nice move by the Vatican

Yesterday, the Vatican released a statement saying Christians should trust science. It said that Darwin’s theory of evolution is compatible with Genesis, that creationism and “intelligent design” are dangerous and could lead to religious fundamentalism, which it indicated is bad, bad, bad.

This is fantastic. Far too often, the news I see about Christians is depressing: intolerance toward homosexuals, attempting to push crackpot non-scientific “theories” into our schools and call them science, telling AIDS-stricken African nations that condoms don’t help fight the spread of HIV. So seeing yesterday’s statement was heartening: a strong denunciation of fundamentalism, and an embracing of science alongside faith. It just makes me feel better.

In other religious news: there’s going to be a Flying Spaghetti Monster bible! This is awesome. If you haven’t heard of Pastafarianism, now’s the time to learn. It’s a satirical religion designed to refute the sort of pseudo-science espoused by intelligent design proponents, and man, has it taken off. Now Bobby Henderson, the guy who thunk it up, has been given an $80,000 advance to write its bible, which is due out in February next year. That’s so cool.

Update: My friend Josh Giesbrecht alerted me to a news story that says evangelical Christians are campaigning for clean air laws. Yay! More good churchy news! This is funny, because I recently asked Sarah, “Hey, doesn’t the Bible say we should respect the earth and all of God’s creation? Why aren’t all Christians also outspoken environmentalists?”