MOSCOW, November 20 (Sputnik) — The Russian Orthodox Church does not rule out the possibility that organic molecules found on the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission may prove that comets could have been responsible for bringing life to Earth, Russian media reported.
In an interview for the TASS news agency on Thursday, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin stated that it is entirely possible that “God could have created the world through various means, including via organic molecules, which exist in the depths of comets.”
The archpriest’s comments come two days after the Rosetta probe’s Philae lander found hard ice and organic molecules on the surface of the 67P after landing there last week.
The statement is a confirmation of the Russian Orthodox Church’s position on evolution, accepted by a majority of its followers, which holds that scientific theories such as Darwin’s theory of evolution and the Big Bang Theory hold merit, so long as they recognize God’s involvement and assistance in the process of the formation of life.
Chaplin noted that “so far, neither this scientific theory [of life spreading to Earth via comets], nor others have been able to answer a series of important questions about the origins of life on Earth. In particular, science has not yet been able to determine where the [organic] matter itself came from, and whether it was eternal.” He added that science “hasn’t been able to answer how multiple kinds of animals and bird species emerged, without assistance, from one organism,” and that it “hasn’t yet been able to say how the cell and human reason have emerged. Science has not yet presented proof of the possibility of the independent development of these processes. It has not, and probably cannot do so,” Father Chaplin said.
