Actually, no religious belief is required to be a member of the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, however the astronomer, Brother Guy, is employed by the Vatican. The PAS itself is strictly an academic organization. Even Stephen Hawking is a member. Here’s a clip from Brother Guy’s interview with Telegraph co.uk :
He said “intelligent design” had been “hijacked” by religious fundamentalists. “The word has been hijacked by a narrow group of Creationist fundamentalists in America to mean something it did not originally mean at all. “It’s another form of the God of the gaps,” he said. ‘It’s bad theology in that it turns God once again into the pagan god of thunder and lightning.’ Read more here.
