Because we haven't had enough "Evolutionary Wars" content of late...

Last week, Pope Benedict sent out some more of his trademark mixed signals on the evolution vs. intelligent design conflict, but out of a combination of annoyance and disinterest, I didn't post about it. But now I see a new story, "Vatican astronomer joins evolution debate," hit the wires which again puts the Vatican on the side of the good guys:

The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was "wrong" and was akin to mixing apples with oranges.

"Intelligent design isn't science even though it pretends to be," the ANSA news agency quoted Coyne as saying on the sidelines of a conference in Florence. "If you want to teach it in schools, intelligent design should be taught when religion or cultural history is taught, not science."

And then:

"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."

The Vatican Observatory, which Coyne heads, is one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world. It is based in the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.

So, let's see if Rome can stick to message now, and not muddy the waters with equivocal and ambiguous comments on the subject. Yeah, fat chance of that.

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