If you follow the current discussions between Professor Richard Dawkins and the religious community you will know that there is a degree of tension between them. Dawkins, at a simplistic level, believes that unless you can prove the existence of god(s) through empirical evidence then he/she/they do not exist. The religious community on the other hand put forward the view that just because you cannot prove the existence of a supreme being, it doesn't mean that they do not exist. What ever your belief system is, you cannot ignore the contribution that the religious community has made to astronomy. So it was with interest that I read this story on the BBC website regarding the Papal scientific community and the Papal Observatory.
In particular, I was attracted to it due to the comments of one Guy Consolmagno, who in my opinion, wrote the best introductory book to astronomy, 'Turn Left at Orion'. It was this book that allowed me to practice observing objects in a more systematic way as opposed to just pointing my binoculars towards the sky and crooning 'ooh that's interesting'. Guy has been attending a scientific meeting at the Vatican to discuss astronomy and focus on disk galaxies in particular. According to the BBC they have the objectives of discussing 'abstruse formulae and mathematical simulations about the physical origins of the universe, involving concepts such as cold dark matter and black holes'. This is pretty heavy stuff.
The church has had a mixed bag of acceptance of scientists and their theories since Pope Gregory XIII set up the reformation of the church and patronised the Jesuit order who were more open to science and new thinking. Many theories were deemed as heretical, such as the theory of our sun being the centre of our solar system and that the earth rotates around it, rather than the opposite of the sun rotating around the earth. However, Galileo who put forward this view, first promoted by Copernicus a century earlier, was attacked by the church and underwent an inquisition. It wasn't until Pope John Paul II term that Galileo was absolved of his heresy.
Today, the Vatican is at the forefront of astronomy with their 1.8M Newtonian reflector set in the hills outside Tucson, Arizona. Guy Consolmagno is a respected observer and scientist contributing to both the professional and amateur communities through his publications. Long may this last for the advancement of the science, whether to prove the existence of a supreme being or just to look on new worlds.
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