Vatican says belief in aliens is OK

And then there’s this very, very strange little news item:

Vatican: It’s OK to believe in aliens (MSNBC)
The chief astronomer says those beliefs don’t contradict faith in God

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican’s chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion “doesn’t contradict our faith” because aliens would still be God’s creatures.

Funes said that ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom.

Of course, there are those who’ve known what really happened all along.

Einstein on the word “god”

I’ve found the perfect post to start things off on this blog. In a 1954 letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind, Albert Einstein wrote:

“The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”

The letter, written in German and held in private hands for over 50 years, was recently sold at auction for over USD$400,000.

Interestingly, evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins also bid on the letter. When asked how much he bid, Dawkins is reported to have said only, “It was substantially higher than the estimate but substantially lower than the final price.” However, he was also “delighted that such a thing should be so highly valued.”

Links:

• Childish superstition: Einstein’s letter makes view of religion relatively clear (The Guardian)
• What he wrote (The Guardian)
• Einstein’s ‘God’ letter fetches $400,000 (MSNBC)
• Dawkins beaten in bid for Einstein letter (The Guardian)

Welcome!

Hi. TK here. This is going to be my place for unfettered blogging. I’ve got other blogs, but this is going to be the one where I say what I want to say without worrying about what my friends, family, employer, or you — whoever you are — think. I expect there will be a little of everything posted here. We’ll just have to see what’s on my mind.