The Invisible Library

I was a little hard on Stephen Hawking last week but only because I except better form one of the most brilliant men on the planet. Better, like this:

HONG KONG (AP) - Famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said Thursday that the late Pope John Paul II once told scientists they should not study the beginning of the universe because it was the work of God.

The British author _ who wrote the best-seller “A Brief History of Time” _ said that the pope made the comments at a cosmology conference at the Vatican.

Hawking, who didn’t say when the meeting was held, quoted the pope as saying, “It’s OK to study the universe and where it began. But we should not enquire into the beginning itself because that was the moment of creation and the work of God.”

The scientist then joked during a lecture in Hong Kong, “I was glad he didn’t realize I had presented a paper at the conference suggesting how the universe began. I didn’t fancy the thought of being handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo.”

We’ve come along way in a few short centuries. Today, a brilliant scientist can joke about being fed to the Inquisition by an obtuse man in a funny hat, rather than fear that the current Pope (formerly the head of the Inquisition) would actually tie him to the rack and break out the anal pear.

But some things never change. It’s the 21st century and we still have Pope for one thing. For another, people still listen to that gassy windbag as if his lunatic rantings about sky fairies and the moral implications of masturbating were anything but backward superstition. But three pips for Dr. Hawking for not backing down and going ahead with his fantastically important research, even if (and especially if) it honks off some dipshit in a fancy dress who believes the sky is falling.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 21st, 2006 at 1:30 am and is filed under Kooks, News, Culture War, Blinded By Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.