The Importance Of Appeal To Fear

There will always be a battle between religion and science, it is a truth universally acknowledged. Galileo attempted to make the two compatible by suggesting that the truth can only be sought out if the notion under consideration can be accurately tested and if the opposing view can be founded as false. Galileo’s goes into depth about the truth of scripture and the sciences, intertwined with the reason of man, in his letter to Christina of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of

Galileo felt that the common opinions of others should not satisfy another’s curiosity and others should not be made to believe the opinions of others. The church as well as others that interpreted or preached from the Bible distorted the information and Galileo thought that those who did this should not be allowed to speak or preach about it.

Galileo does not support religion because he is more focused on science. Galileo was going against the Holy Scripture and religion in general. This supports the connecting of science to religion negatively. Many people agree that science and religion were the same thing and if one idea parted from the other, it was considered

Another important figure in the Scientific Revolution was Galileo Galilei. He was an Italian born professor of mathematics who had a great interest in the workings of the universe. Galileo served as a professor at the University of Padua, and it was during this time that he began to question the accuracy of the Churches representation of the world. Galileo’s approach towards knowledge was much different then the afore mentioned Copernicus. Where as Copernicus presented his finding to the mercy of the church, Galileo wrote his conclusions and left the Roman Catholic Church interpret them as they chose. The very nature of his findings pitted him as an opponent of the church.

However, it is the human's job to produce “the happiness of the good and the punishment of the evil” (Document 12). This, promotes the fact that our minds are stronger than we think. John Calvin supported astronomy (Document 2). Calvin supported this because of its connections to Moses and the book of Genesis. However, he also went against the Catholic Church and supported astronomy probably because he was Protestant and just wanted to support what the Catholic Church disagreed with. The Church didn’t want to let Galileo spread his ideas about the moon because they knew that it discredited many of their beliefs (Document 3). The church didn’t want Galileo to prove them wrong so that others would stop going to Church. The Pope made Galileo recant what he had said. The church did this to make sure that more people didn’t stop going to church which was their source of money. Walter Charleton, an English Doctor and natural philosopher said that “It appears so impossible that atoms.... could fix themselves into so vast and symmetrical a structure as the World. The creation and arrangement can be connected to no other cause, but to an Infinite Wisdom and Power” (Document 8). In this document, Walter Charleton states how far science can go and only God could have made such an amazing object which is our

Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius, more commonly known as Starry Messenger, was published work of Galileo’s discoveries with his telescope. The view of the world at the time was that Earth was the center of everything, everyone believed in this geocentric theory and Galileo managed to throw that all away with his discoveries. Within his observations he was able to show that the earth was not the center of the universe, everything did not revolve around us. At the time this was a huge blow to everything that everyone believed. The views of the people at the time were based off of what the Church was feeding them. Galileo was not trying to attack the bible, he was even trying to compare his findings along with the Bible, but in doing so he was basically

The book really focuses on the conflict between Galileo and the Catholic Church, most notably Pope Urban VIII, once

An important thing to remember is that is the 16th and 17th centuries, there was no separation between State and the Church. Most/all rules in the State had to do something with the Bible and how it had been interpreted, and it anyone had opposed the ideas of the Bible, they would not only get punished by the church, but also by the State. This made it laborious to try to prove an idea with science, just as Galileo was trying to do. Not even the smallest accusation about the church was taken lightly, “As you know, the Council [of Trent] prohibits interpreting the Scriptures contrary to the common agreement of the holy Fathers.” (Document B). At this point Galileo had only just started his discoveries, and sharing them with the public and church. Even though Galileo never explicitly vocalized that the scriptures were wrong, just by throwing the idea out that the Earth revolved around the Sun, caused disagreement from the Church and State. The timing that Galileo started to speak about his discoveries and thoughts about the universe was not the best. He started to say his ideas only a little after Bruno. Galileo supported Bruno’s idea on how the universe worked. This was probably not the best idea for Galileo, considering that Bruno had been burned to death in 1600, for the popular belief that he was going against the Bible. The main difference between

During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the world of science became exposed to new scientific discoveries that were not welcomed by the church. For decades, people believed and did everything the Roman Catholic Church told them because there were no documents or no other proof of scientific knowledge to go on. Friendship should be spread through the whole world of learning…(Document 9)” You will learn better if you are friends because you can exchange information and find out more than if you were enemies. The Roman Catholic Church was threatening by the Scientific Revolution because Copernicious’s, Galilei’s, and Newton’s new science discoveries open people minds to change.

During the Scientific Revolution, in the 17th century, several philosophers began to doubt scientific knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. One of those philosophers, Galileo, discovered a new innovation that could have changed the viewpoint on the Church’s Scripture accuracy. Galileo discovered that the sun stayed still as the Earth revolved around it, which was the opposite of what the Church taught. During this time, it was very dangerous for Galileo to oppose the Church. This was because doubts about the Church would lead to a loss of its power and the people’s trust, which was unwanted.

It is evident that the Catholic Church realized their inaccuracy of their theory of the function of the solar system. After several centuries, the church accepted the truth in the theory of Galilei’s heliocentrism theory. The Timeline further explains that in, “1939: Pope Pius XII called Galileo a hero of research”(Doc A: Line 14). Galileo was no longer known as heresy of the Catholic religion but rather a hero that drew the line between reality and belief.

The Scientific Revolution changed society with the birth of “modern science”; it changed the way people thought about the physical world around them. The same spirit of inquiry that fueled the Renaissance, led scientists to question traditional beliefs about the workings of the universe. The conflict all began with Copernicus’ heliocentric model being introduced to the world- going against the Church’s traditional teachings. Nicolaus Copernicus developed the heliocentric model of the universe- stating that the sun is the center, and that other planets revolve around it. Despite his calculations, people disagreed and kept on believing in Ptolemy’s geocentric model.

The committee was clinging to tradition and the knowledge that had been passed down to them for the last 1500 years. The church took the scripture too literal, and it clouded their judgment. Galileo came to the committee (church) with two propositions, the first being “The sun is in the center of the world and is altogether immovable in respect to local motion” the second was, “The earth is not the center of the world nor it is immovable, but it moves as a whole and also with a daily motion.” Within a couple days the committee came to a conclusion that the propositions were foolish (Copernicanism, page 152). Galileo could not demonstrate the theory, so the church did not take his claim seriously. The church felt threatened by the claim, and feared that it would weaken the power they had. This corrupted the committees’ view of the book, which caused the unfair treatment Galileo received. The treatment Galileo received justified his actions for publishing the book without the churches consent. It was wrong to disregard Galileo’s theories, because of past beliefs. The church should have been more open minded of the idea and turned to science to disprove it rather than

In the history of the Catholic Church, no episode is so contested by so many viewpoints as the condemnation of Galileo. The Galileo case, for many, proves the Church abhors science, refuses to abandon outdated teachings, and is clearly not infallible. For staunch Catholics the episode is often a source of embarrassment and frustration. Either way it is undeniable that Galileo’s life sparked a definite change in scientific thought all across Europe and symbolised the struggle between science and the Catholic Church.

Even though Galileos beliefs were held in practicing Catholicsim, his writings were showing evidence for “Copernican heliocentrism.” The Catholic Church, however, disapproved of heliocentricity, feeling that it was contrary to the statements in the Bible: if God created human beings as His supreme creation, He would place man at the center of His cosmos. (At that time the more literal Biblical interpretation was prevalent with the church fathers, especially among the Dominican Order, facilitators of the Inquisition)2 However, real power layed with the Church, and Galileo's arguments were most fiercely fought on the religious level. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine insisted that Galileo furnish more adequate proof of his new theories before he would be allowed to teach them as true or even as probably true.