Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

The Pope and the Priest

Things have become real murky and it is not clear who makes them murkier, those, like Provine, who stretch the meaning of evolution or those like Behe who seeks God within it.

Father George Coyne, a Jesuit scientist, formally the director of the Vatican Observatory and not to be confused with Jerry Coyne caused quite a stir. It seems, according to some sources, to be the reason that he was dismissed from his post after nearly three decades, if we are to accept newspaper accounts that suggest that Vatican sources, not authorized to comment, are right. Here is what happened:

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, wrote an article published in the New York Times, in which he argued the case for Intelligent Design and stated that random variation and natural selection were incompatible with Catholic beliefs.

Father Coyne responded in the British magazine, Tablet.  
“[God] is not constantly intervening, but rather allows, participates, loves,” he wrote. “Religious believers must move away from the notion of a dictator or designer God, a Newtonian God who made the universe as a watch that ticks along regularly.”

Speaking at other times, subsequently, he made it very clear that ID is not science and it should not be taught in schools as part any scientific curriculum. Later, in referring to Pope Benedict XVI, who seems to favor ID, he said, “doesn't have the slightest idea of what intelligent design means in the U.S.”.