...The Church claimed it was at odds with the Bible, particularly a verse in the Book of Joshua that describes God stopping the sun in the sky, and one in Psalms that says Earth was put on its foundations and would not move. Galileo responded publicly by explaining that the truth of the Bible was not always literal, that it used metaphorical imagery. He wrote: "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them. He would not require us to deny sense and reason in physical matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct experience or necessary demonstrations." WA
Monday, April 13, 2020
Galileo finally exonerated
It was on this day (Apr 12) in 1633 that Galileo Galilei was put on trial by the Inquisition, for supporting the theory that the Earth revolves around the sun. In late April 1633, Galileo agreed to plead guilty and was sentenced to an unlimited period of house arrest in his home in Florence. He gradually went blind and died in 1641. It wasn’t until 1992 that the Catholic Church formally admitted that Galileo’s views on the solar system are correct. WA
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It is really a shame that people with bold ideas, like Galileo, that challenge the status quo are pushed down by organizations that are already in place. I am grateful that that the church finally decided to "clear his name." Imagine what bounds he could have pushed if he had been left to his work instead of being silenced.
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I agree with you i think that a lot more interesting stuff could have been discovered by Galileo, but big brother will always be watching.
DeleteIt's always bittersweet when an organization whether a church or even our government decides to exonerate someone after so long. Even more so when they've already died living with the wrong judgments. It's great that the church would swallow their pride and admit that they were wrong, but at the same time I wish they could've figured that out at the time. This still happens all of the time especially with convictions in the US. Often times, people will be wrongfully convicted, get bashed by the media and they're life destroyed, and then forty years later, after they may have already died in prison, officials will admit that they were wrong. This is especially infuriating when The wrongful conviction seems so obvious and that the officials may have just been prejudice.
ReplyDeleteGalileo was no doubt a brilliant man. Sadly, many brilliant lives were and still are snuffed our by religious extremism. A lot of people today really forget that some organizations may have been founded on good intentions but can easily stray from that path. Does “Evil” lie dormant in all good will? Section 6
ReplyDeleteIt’s crazy just how much power the church had in Galileo’s time, and what a shame that he was born in such an ignorant era. And for something as simple as believing his own findings and discoveries which challenged the beliefs of the time. Especially puzzling because the ones in power refused to entertain the thought of thinking of interpreting the Bible in another way so extremely, that they sentenced a brilliant man to an isolated life to waste away
ReplyDeleteWell, they finally said "Sorry"... in 1992.
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