| Well the Catholic Church also somewhat recently forgave Galileo for supporting the Copernican (heliocentric) model of the solar system over the Ptolemaic geocentric model.
Still a good move. It might be pointless to the Darwins, but it's not just an image thing. When the religious hierarchy makes such a pronouncement, it filters to a large part of the congregation. Even if the majority have long adopted that evolution is not only real, but it also not truly in conflict with the faith, it still matters that the Church says it explicitly. |