You know, Catholics are supposed to be the sensible ones. We’re constantly reminded that we shouldn’t treat all religions the same: Catholics have embraced science, they’ve changed since Galileo’s times and shouldn’t be conflated with Evangelicals, Young-Earth Creationists and other Bible Belt fundamentalists.
But then, what should we think of Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell:
Christians don’t go against reason although we sometimes go beyond it in faith to embrace probabilities. What we were seeing from the doomsdayers was an induced dose of mild hysteria, semi-religious if you like, but dangerously close to superstition.
I am deeply skeptical about man-made catastrophic global warming, but still open to further evidence. I would be surprised if industrial pollution, and carbon emissions, had no ill effect at all. But enough is enough.
A few fixed points might provide some light. We know that enormous climate changes have occurred in world history, e.g. the Ice Ages and Noah’s flood, where human causation could only be negligible.
[…] The science is more complicated than the propaganda!
What a fucking moron! As if denying global warming just because “January also was unusually cool” wasn’t stupid enough, we have talk of Noah’s flood like it was a historical event.
Science is more complicated than propaganda, indeed. No surprise that Cardinal Pell cannot grasp it, if he is totally unable to even use common sense to see that his Bible is just a fairy tale for grownups.
(Via PZ Myers.)
Technorati Tags: cardinal pell, global warming, nuts, noah, flood.
Interesting.
I don’t like the way cardinal Pell uses to express his ideas, but, how can you be so sure that there is no historical event behind the Noah’s flood?
See, for example http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_noah.htm.
I don’t want to support the statements in the URL above, but I just want to suggest that behind that story there could be a real catastrophe.
Or maybe you have better scientific sources which can exclude it at all?
Of course, I think all myths have some sort of factual origin.
This, unfortunately, does nothing to help poor Cardinal Pell in relieving him of the responsibility of having uttered a complete idiocy when he defined Noah’s flood an historical event.
This is akin to saying that, since Troy really existed, Homer’s Iliad is a historical document and Paris did really kidnap Helen and Ulysses really invented the wooden horse (with the help of some deity, nonetheless).
This is beyond stupid.
Using this argument to support an irresponsible and dangerous opinion on global warming and conservation is not only stupid. It’s fundamentally evil.
Apart of the Noah’s flood, I strongly agree with Cardinal Pell.
Man-made global warming is based on propaganda, a bunch of people who are the closest green advisors of the leaders all around the world.
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=4499562022478442170&q=swindle
I think that religion, specially the catholic religion, has lost it’s purpose. They are guiding the faith by a book that was written thousands of years ago in a time when some things like global warming was not present. And since they don’t have an answer in the bible about that, they don’t know what to think about it.
And by the way…….. If someone could invite me to joost…i would appreciate it so much
Don’t have doubts regarding the flood….
http://www.flood-myth.com/index.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/index.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0105/online_extra.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0105/feature3/index.html
Didn’t God promise Noah that he would never again destroy the world by flood — so what are you worried about? :-]
I see that you are not a religious man.Many of us have our doubts. It is not a reason to attack a person with ideas that differ from yours. I also am a skeptic , however I will listen to and try to understand the view of others. Most are aware that there is a real threat from global warming, those who are close to their religion would tend to believe that GOD would not let something like this to happen,I , one who doubts but hopes that there is a GOD, believe that if he/she ( politically correct) is out there he/she would indeed let us destroy our world if we were that stupid.The archbishop does not. Well enough about religion. Global warming is real how much time we have to correct it I don’t know, I’m 55 and probably will be gone before things get too bad. I do envy the younger generations to come however. If they can fix the many problems we have today with the technology that is evolving this might just be a very wonderful place to be in the not to distant future.
John,
I’m not attacking Pell for being a religious man. I’m attacking him for writing stupid and dangerous things.
I think you misunderstood my comment, I meant his different ideas on global warming.
He obviously believes his views on global warming are correct, I do not , however that dosen’t make him a moron. People are sometimes wrong, even religious ones, sometimes you can convince them they are , sometimes you can’t. But by resorting to the type of commentary on his position,and his religion, in the fashion you have chosen tends to weaken the argument you are trying to express.
I hope you understand where I was comming from .
Thanks for the space.
John,
saying that global warming is not real because January was cool and we had Noah’s flood before is beyond moronic.
Using half-truths and outright lies to support your position is intellectually dishonest.
Abusing the authority that is offered to you by your religious affiliation in order to fool and deceive people is deeply immoral.
You can be a global warming denialist without being a religious man, but it takes religion to believe that the Noah Flood myth is history.
Now tell me, John, why shouldn’t we attack Pell’s dangerous ideas? We do because they are stupid, wrong and dangerous and deserve no respect at all.