Stephen Law

Talking of the Galileo affair, there is another load of revisionist twaddle here from Peter Klein. Read it, and then, if you are interested, try this piece I wrote earlier... A quote from the first piece: Consider these facts: 1. Neither Galileo, nor any other scientist, was put to death by the medieval Church. Giordano Bruno, a 17th-century Dominican, was indeed condemned by the Inquisition, not for his scientific views, but for preaching a quirky, New Age-ish view called hermeticism, which was only incidentally connected to heliocentrism. 2. The Catholic authorities of Galileo’s day had little trouble with heliocentrism per se. Many of the leading Catholic scientists were actually Copernicans. Copernicus’s treatise on heliocentrism had been in print for seventy years prior to Galileo’s conflict with the Church. 3. Galileo remained a devout and loyal Catholic until the end of his life. He held no animosity toward the Church over his conflict with Church authorities. 4. Most impo...

Here's a little essay I am working on for this blog. It's in progress, not finished... you may have suggestions as to how it might be improved. See previous post for context. Some Catholics insist that Galileo was condemned, not for his scientific views, but his theological views. Here for example, is Patrick Madrid: Galileo confused revealed truths with scientific discoveries by saying that in the Bible "are found propositions which, when taken literally, are false; that Holy Writ out of regard for the incapacity of the people, expresses itself inexactly, even when treating of solemn dogmas; that in questions concerning natural things, philosophical [i.e., scientific] should avail more than sacred." Hence, we see that it was Galileo's perceived attack on theology (which is the unique domain of the Magisterium and not of scientists) that elicited the alarmed response from the Church. http://catholiceducation.org/articles/science/sc0033.html Thomas Lessl takes a si...

I just received a letter, forwarded by The Guardian, from a Dr Danielian, who takes me to task for maintaining in letter (go here and scroll down) to The Guardian that, contrary to what another letter had suggested, Galileo and Bruno were hauled before the Inquisition for their scientific views. Here's my response. I'll add to it in the next post, as exactly how some Catholics try to justify the view that the Church was not concerned with Bruno's and Galileo's scientific views is worth unpacking... Dear Dr Danielan I just received your letter to The Guardian . Thanks for taking the time to respond to my letter. I can’t say I agree with you, though. The issue I addressed, remember, was whether Galileo and Bruno were hauled before the Inquisition for their scientific views, or merely their theological views. I rejected the claim that it was only their theological views that were of concern to the religious authorities. I pointed out that, as even Koestler says, Galileo ...

Just put this in a comment to my previous post (read the preceding post before reading this). But it's worth posting properly, I think. Rev Sam points out that Galileo acknowledged there was a lack of proof for the heliocentric model. I reply... Sam - you raise an interesting point, but what is its relevance to the issue here? Are you drawing a conclusion? The issue I am discussing, remember, is: was Galileo indeed hauled before the inquisition for his scientific views (though no doubt his comments on the interpretation of scripture etc. would have provoked ire too)? And was he shown the instruments of torture and imprisoned for life for , among other things, daring to claim the heliocentric model was literally true? The answer is "yes" twice, isn't it? True, G was wrong about some things, and some of his arguments were faulty. And yes he could be less than tactful, and indeed may have lampooned the Pope. Possibly he had bad breath too. Conservative Catholics love to ...

In The Guardian today, someone wrote a letter suggesting that neither Galileo nor Bruno were dragged before the Inquisition for their scientific views (the author was responding to this ). I wrote a letter responding. See below. Wikipedia is interesting on Bruno (though I don't know how reliable it is generally). Scroll down to " conflicts over his execution ", for example. This document, from the Vatican itself, is unequivocal about Bruno being interrogated about his scientific views. See especially the big penultimate paragraph. There are many Catholic writings seeking to downplay the Galileo affair. Some insist that the Church wanted to censor not Galileo's scientific views, but merely his theological ones. See this example from www.catholiceducation.org. Notice, among other things, the very subtle way in which the scientific dispute is recast as a theological one (and also the way in which key details, such as the Church's earlier command to Galileo not to...