Danes feel Obama is greater than Jesus

[Vandiablo]

The idea that this has nothing to do with Christianity is simply ludicrous. This was the Pope, the head of the Church. Galileo was tried, and convicted, on grounds of heresy, of being contrary to Christian scripture. His offence, practically speaking, was to offend both the leader and the dogma of the Church. How could this not be about Christianity?

That the church let him publish the book, then imprisoned him for heresy for having published it, is evidence of remarkable capriciousness and hypocrisy, but hardly any kind of exoneration. They expected a whitewash - a discussion of 'hypotheses' that paid their scriptures reverence. What they got was a strong case for his scientific theory and evidence that trashed their preferred dogma, and Galileo was imprisoned accordingly.

You guys oughta read Galileo's Daughter.

I read half of it about two years ago. What I remember is that there were two factions within the Vatican and Italian priesthood. One faction was very open to discussion of ideas, including many scientific ideas, and this faction held the power while Galileo developed his work. However, the other faction came to power, and they were very dogmatic and traditional and felt that Truth was in the Bible and not in dots in the sky.

So I think both of you are inaccurate. You're inaccurate in talking about the Catholic leadership as if it were a homogenous entity. kandrathe is inaccurate in separating anti-scientific dogmatism from Christian leadership, a combination that continues to modern times.

Back to the book. G himself was a religious man, and did not want to go against God or his Church. He wasn't thumbing his nose at anybody. The fact that he wasn't given a more severe punishment speaks more about his faith and obedience than it does about any theoretical lenience of his oppressors.