Quote:He was charged with Heresy at age 69 after the bulk of his life's work was already accomplished. He began his professional work at age 25. Galileo is often brought up as an example of how the church is anti-science. Often, they are, but in this case there are extenuating circumstances.The extenuating circumstances being that he put the church's position in the mouth of the Pope, thinly disguised, and called him an idiot? And so they put him before the inquisition and forced him to recant his scientific beliefs in favour of their dogma? Somehow, these "extenuating circumstances" don't seem very extenuating...
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Simplicio also means simpleton in Italian, so in essence, Galileo accidentally shot himself in the foot politically.
The anti-science charge against the Church is not that they ruined Galileo's life, although I'm sure it was unpleasant to be under house arrest, but rather that they denounced his theories and forced him to recant against his will. That's a direct assault on science, by religion. What more do you want?
-Jester