Vatican buries the hatchet with Charles Darwin

The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin was on the right track when he claimed that Man descended from apes. A leading official declared yesterday that Darwin's theory of evolution was compatible with Christian faith, and could even be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas.


In fact, what we mean by evolution is the world as created by God, said Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The Vatican also dealt the final blow to speculation that Pope Benedict XVI might be prepared to endorse the theory of Intelligent Design, whose advocates credit a higher power
for the complexities of life.

Organisers of a papal-backed conference next month marking the 150th anniversary of Darwin's On the Origin of Species said that at first it had even been proposed to ban Intelligent Design from the event, as poor theology and poor science.


Intelligent Design would be discussed at the fringes of the conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University, but merely as a cultural phenomenon, rather than a scientific or theological issue, organisers said.

The conference is seen as a landmark in relations between faith and science. Three years ago advocates of Intelligent Design seized on the Pope's reference to an intelligent project as proof that he favoured their views.

Conceding that the Church had been hostile to Darwin because his theory appeared to conflict with the account of creation in Genesis, Archbishop Ravasi argued yesterday that biological evolution and the Christian view of Creation were complementary.

Marc Leclerc, who teaches natural philosophy at the Gregorian University, said that no scholar could remain indifferent to the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth tomorrow. There was, however, question of celebrating it.

The Vatican would take the measure of an event, which has left its mark for ever on the history of science and has influenced the way we understand our humanity. The time has come for a rigorous and objective valuation of Darwin by the Church, he said.

Professor Leclerc said that too many opponents of Darwin above all Creationists had mistakenly claimed that his theories were totally incompatible with a religious vision of reality, as did proponents of Intelligent Design.

Darwin's theories had never been formally condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, Monsignor Ravasi insisted. His rehabilitation had begun as long ago as 1950, when Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans. In 1996 John Paul II said that it was more than a hypothesis.

Father Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Santa Croce University in Rome, said that Darwin had been anticipated by St Augustine of Hippo. The 4th-century theologian had never heard the term evolution, but knew that big fish eat smaller fish and that forms of life had been transformed slowly over time. Aquinas had made similar observations in the Middle Ages, he added.

He said it was time that theologians as well as scientists grappled with the mysteries of genetic codes and whether the diversification of life forms is the result of competition or cooperation between species. As for the origins of Man, although we shared 97 per cent of our genetic inheritance with apes, the remaining 3 per cent is what makes us unique, including religion.

I maintain that the idea of evolution has a place in Christian theology, Professor Tanzella-Nitti added.
Creationism remains powerful in the US, however, notably among Protestants, and its followers object to evolution being taught in state schools.


The Church of England is seeking to bring Darwin back into the fold with a page on its website paying tribute to his forgotten work in his local parish, to illustrate how science and Church need not be at odds. Several pages celebrate Darwin's significant scientific progress to mark his bicentenary and also the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species.

The Church wants to correct the impression that Darwin's relationship with Anglicanism was contentious. The Anglican Church as a whole did not condemn Darwin or his beliefs. It says that although he lost his faith, he did not become antiChurch or antireligious.

AlArabiya
ICC to indict Sudan's Bashir over Darfur: UN
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Judges at the International Criminal Court have decided to indict Sudan's president for war crimes in Darfur and issue a warrant for his arrest, United Nations diplomats and officials said on Wednesday.

"The ICC decided it wants him arrested," a diplomat at the U.N. told Reuters on condition of anonymity, referring to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Some U.N. officials also said they understood that to be the decision by the ICC, based in The Hague. They said it had been widely expected and would be made public later this month.

Quoting court lawyers and diplomats, the New York Times reported on its Website on Wednesday that the move by the panel of judges in The Hague marked the first time that the world's first independent, permanent tribunal on war crimes has sought the detention of a sitting head of state since it began its work in 2002.

War crimes
Last year, chief ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo asked the court's judges to indict Bashir for orchestrating what he described as a campaign of genocide in Sudan's western Darfur region that killed 35,000 people in 2003 and at least 100,000 more through starvation and disease.

Khartoum rejects the term genocide and says 10,000 people died in the conflict. U.N. officials say at least 2.5 million were left homeless and put the death toll as high as 300,000.

Sudan has ruled out handing over Bashir or two other Sudanese citizens previously indicted by the court for suspected war crimes in Darfur. But Bashir's ability to travel outside Sudan will likely become difficult once an international arrest warrant is issued.

An ICC spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the decision was in the hands of the judges. It was not immediately clear whether Bashir had been indicted on all 10 counts of genocide and other war crimes listed by the prosecutor or just some of them.

U.N. officials say at least 2.5 million were left homeless in Darfur
The New York Times quoted U.N. officials as saying the decision on the warrant was communicated to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and was expected to be formally announced at the court in the coming days.

But asked to comment on the report, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said: "I can confirm that no decision has been received by the Secretary General. We do not anticipate receiving such communication and we do not normally receive such communication."

And Japan's UN Ambassador Yukio Takasu, the president of the Security Council this month, said: "The council has not been informed yet."

Cooperation with peacekeepers
Khartoum said it would continue cooperating with U.N. peacekeepers in Sudan even if Bashir is indicted, but has warned there may be widespread demonstrations of public outrage.

Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, dismissed the decision of the court.

"It will mean nothing to us and doesn't deserve ink with which it is written," he told Reuters. "We will never be shaken by this criminal attempt to pollute our political life and sabotage our efforts for development and peace."

Some U.N. officials worry the Sudanese government might encourage reprisals against international peacekeepers. Ban said on Tuesday that Bashir and his government must "react very responsibly and ensure safety of (U.N.) peacekeepers."

The secretary-general met Bashir on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa last week.

U.N. officials said blue helmet peacekeepers in Darfur had no mandate to act on ICC arrest warrants in Sudan but would go about their business of protecting civilians there.

Time to shun Bashir
Save Darfur Coalition of over 180 organizations and activist groups issued a statement saying it was time for the world to shun Bashir.

"A regime led by an indicted war criminal cannot possibly be treated as a full member of the community of nations," it said. "The international community must press Sudanese authorities to comply with their obligations to cooperate with the ICC, including executing all outstanding warrants."

"At a minimum, countries should not allow him to travel to their territory and should limit diplomatic interaction with him in Khartoum to efforts to end the crisis in Darfur and bring peace to all of Sudan," the statement said.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/02/12/66281.html

The Earth Times
Report: Warrant to be issued for Sudanese President Bashir – Summary
Thu, 12 Feb 2009

New York/The Hague - A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has decided to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, The New York Times reported on its website Thursday, citing court lawyers and diplomats. At United Nations headquarters in New York, spokeswoman Marie Okabe denied the Times' report that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had been notified by the court that a warrant would be issued.

"No decision has been received by the secretary general," she said late Wednesday. "We do not anticipate receiving such communication. We do not normally receive decisions of the court."

On Monday, an ICC spokeswoman in The Hague had said that a decision on the arrest warrant was likely within weeks, not days.

The warrant arises from a request in July by ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo for Bashir's arrest on allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region, where an ethnic conflict has raged since 2003.

The charges to be included in the warrant were not immediately reported. The arrest warrant would be the first issued by the ICC for a sitting head of state.

Sudanese UN Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem called a possible arrest warrant an "insult" to Sudan.

"It will mean nothing to us and does not deserve the ink with which it is written," he said late Wednesday.

The African Union and Arab diplomats have warned that attempts to prosecute Bashir would complicate the Darfur peace process.

The United Nations Security Council, which referred the Darfur case to the ICC for prosecution, has the power to halt the prosecution but has refused to intervene.

The Security Council plans to meet later Thursday with representatives of the African Union and Arab League to discuss the Darfur issue, according to Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu, who hold the council's rotating presidency this month. He said late Wednesday that there had been no confirmation of an ICC arrest warrant for Bashir.

"The mood in the council is to be prepared and deal with it when it comes," Takasu said. "We are getting lots of news and indications, but nothing official yet."

An estimated 300,000 people have died in the Darfur conflict, and millions of refugees have fled.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/255401,report-warrant-to-be-issued-for-sudanese-president-bashir--summary.html