And no, it's not an Onion article:
The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect “total accuracy” from the Bible.“We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture.
...
The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but continue: “We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters.”
They go on to condemn fundamentalism for its “intransigent intolerance” and to warn of “significant dangers” involved in a fundamentalist approach.
“Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or group see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even consider themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others.”
More info from the Liturgy Office. I realize that this isn't a papal bull -- do they still issue bulls? -- but this still seems pretty major stuff.
| Bible | Christianity | Catholicism | United Kingdom |
Oh, sure, there are bulls here and there. They even keep a record of them at the Vatican website. JPII issued one proclaiming 2000 a jubilee year (even though there had just been one in 1983 and jubilees are Biblically only s'posed to be every 50 years).
Anyway, expect a smackdown from the current Pope any day now, IMHO.
Comment #1 :: link :: October 9, 2005 09:34 PM
