Evolution Creation Debate

The Rev. George Coyne, the Vatican’s chief astronomer, reaffirmed God's role in creation, but said science explains the history of the universe.

In an 6 August 2005 article, God’s chance creation, in the British Catholic magazine The Tablet, he said"If they respect the results of modern science, and indeed the best of modern biblical research, religious believers must move away from the notion of a dictator God or a designer God, a Newtonian God who made the universe as a watch that ticks along regularly."

Rather, he argued, God should be seen more as an encouraging parent.

"God in his infinite freedom continuously creates a world that reflects that freedom at all levels of the evolutionary process to greater and greater complexity," he wrote. "He is not continually intervening, but rather allows, participates, loves."

( Father Coyne, an American Jesuit, is an astronomer who divides his time between teaching astronomy at the University of Arizona and directing the Vatican Observatory. The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical institutes in the world. It is headquartered in Castelgandolfo, Italy and operates a 1.8 metre telescope atop Mount Graham, Arizona.)