[meteorite-list] RE: RC's age of the universe???

[Norbert Classen]

Hi Sterling, Martin & All,

Martin H. wrote:

> The question has risen:
>
> > I wonder why the RC church  would have such a
> > huge collection of items which contradicts
> > their doctrine  that the universe is only
> > 6,000 to 10,000 years  old...
>
> Does anyone have a reference for the assumption that
> "their doctrine" actually addresses the age of the
> universe?

I guess that assumption stems from the movie "Inherit the Wind" with Spencer
Tracy, based on the legendary ape trial, and the screenplay by Jerome
Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Major Brady, the proponent of the anti-evolution
fraction, gives an exact date of the creation of the universe in this plot;
if I recall it correctly it was a "Thursday", some 5,700 or so years ago ;-)
Certainly not the official doctrine of the RC church, but I know quite a lot
of contemporary RC priests, preachers, and officials who are saying
essentially the same...

Sterling responded (sorry for quoting you out of context, Sterling):

> That unfortunate business with Galilleo was, well,
> unfortunate... There are reports that many prelates,
> including the Pope, were delighted with the Big Bang
> theory's wide acceptance, for obvious reasons. A created
> universe? Didn't we always say so?

Yeah, and while Galilleo has been reinstated by popular demand (sic!),
people such as Giordano Bruno are still "burning in hell", at least if you
follow the official agenda of the RC church. Now, if we would actually find
traces of (former) life in martian meteorites, or on Mars missions, the
official agenda would surely change, provided that there will be another
paradigm shift, and enough popular demand to "convince" them. There. So it's
no real change of attitude, it's just "survival of the fittest", what leads
us back to Darwin, and "Inherit the Wind"...

Enough said,
Norbert