Mon 3 Dec 2007
Dinesh D'Souza, author of the recent book What's so Great about Christianity? and who recently engaged in a debate with Christopher Hitchens (I have some disagreements with D'Souza on a few points, but generally he did well) recently posted an article called "Debunking the Galileo Myth" which explains why the usual story passed around about the church's persecution of Galileo is not accurate. Of course, the church did persecute certain people unfairly, but using Galileo as a quintessential example of such persecution is misleading at best.
It's probably a good read if you're not already familiar with the issue. Another good resource on this topic is the first chapter of Philip J Sampson's book Six Modern Myths about Christianity and Western Civilization.
3 Responses to “Debunking the Galileo Myth”
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December 6th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Another good resource on this topic is found in the chapter called "You Can't Prove That Scientifically" in Dr. Paul Copan's book "How do You Know You're Not Wrong?"
December 24th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
It seems ludicrous to me to rewrite history to make the Church look like the American Physical Society, out to protect good scientific methods.
The church banned the teaching of heliocentrism. I mean, Copernicus was scared to publish his opinions in the first place for fear of the church. The difference between Copernicus and Galileo was that Galileo wasn't scared enough to withhold publication. Galileo thought he could get away with challenging the dictatorship of the church. He was only half right, and he paid a price for it.
Having Christians take credit for scientific advances in Western society made during the Middle Ages is a bit like having communists take credit for the great individual achievements made by citizens of the Soviet Union. Anyone who achieved anything in these dictatorships had no choice but to achieve it under license from the dictator.
The fact remains that, when Christianity took hold, science came to a standstill for a thousand years. It was not Christianity itself that killed science. It was the policing of thought by early Christians that killed science. Science requires openness, and dictatorships (like the church) are intolerant of free thought.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
doctor, Christianity is the sole reason science took off in Europe. Most of the early/great scientists were devout Christians (Newton, Boyle, Pascal, Bacon, Maxwell, etc), and they credited their faith as the source of their inspiration for discovery. It is the Christian worldview that gives the base for science to grow; namely that nature is consistent and can be observed with reliability. Other cultures that adopted contrary views like Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, etc. simply never had the correct base for science to flourish. Many of these opposing worldviews saw the world as an illusion, or God as capricious and changing.
The church in the middle ages was the premier institution for astronomy and the Jesuits were the best in the world for explaining the celestial bodies. The main problem with Galileo was his arrogance and the path he took to profer his theories. Galileo was a devout Christian (another great scientist with Christianity at his base) and he firmly believed that the Bible and nature should agree. He felt the church had the wrong interpretation with geocentrism. Oddly enough, the church at this point in history was heavily influenced by a humanists element (thanks to Aquanis' teachings) and thought the Aristotelian system of the heavens was correct. The church did not invent geocentrism, but did adopt those views from a pagan.
Im not sure where you get the idea that Christianity policed thought and thus led to a stagnation of science. Do you have any support for this? History seems to tell a different story. I would actually say that the opposite is true. If anyone dares to raise a challenge to Darwinism, the thought police rush in to ridicule and deride you into hiding. What ever happened to science allowing for openness and free thought? Even some of today's strongest theories, like general relativity, are still tested over and over again (even when it has been established to 11 places of the decimal!) Evolution however is considered a fact and any challenge is a heresy.