The Trial Of Galileo Galilei

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.

These intellectuals significantly influenced the world leaders and institutions of the time, although the Catholic Church refused to accept most of the newly discovered scientific laws/theories as legitimate, as they opposed the fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith. An example of the bigotry of the Catholic Church in this time, is the persecution of Galileo Galilei, which occurred due to his discoveries regarding a heliocentric solar system conflicting with the geocentric views of the Church. This conflict of beliefs led to the Church convicting Galileo of heresy, sentencing him to banishment, despite ample amounts of evidence and the approval of a variety of intellectuals supporting his

“Men who were grounded in astronomical and physical science were persuaded as soon as they received my first message…” (30). Others took longer to come to terms with Galileo’s work due to how different it was from what they had come to believe. And, some were so stuck in their ways that they refused to look at the evidence and denied the truth at all cost.

In late 1632, after writing Dialogues on the Two Chief World Systems, Galileo was dictated to go to Rome to be investigated by the Holy Office of the Inquisition. In January 1633, a particularly unhealthy Galileo executed an strenuous travel to Rome. There has been much dispute over the circumstances influencing Galileo’s ordeal. There is also contention over the legitimacy of the statements against Galileo, both in terms of their content and judicial procedure. Specifically, he had been encumbered with educating and advocating the Copernican dogma that believes that the Sun is at the center of the cosmos and that the earth

When Galileo’s astronomical claims became public, it was a large blow to The Church. The Church claimed that he was undermining the power of Scripture. If it had publically accepted Galileo’s claims, the Church’s authority would be further questioned. By suggesting that the earth revolved around the Sun, Galileo was questioning centuries of what people regarded to be the “truth,” and this did not sit well with the Church leaders. However, he did explain that he was not questioning the Bible itself, but questioning the interpretation of the Bible by those in positions of spiritual authority.

Galileo believed in God and had always been a devout Catholic and had no interest in defying the church. This was how he had always been and he was not about to change that just because of a scientific discovery. “I think the first place it is beru pias to say and prudent to affirm that the Holy Bible cannot speak untruth” (Galileo, document A). He respected the Bible and its teachings and also believed that his observations did not contradict any verse found in the Holy Bible. The accusations made were simply a priest interpreting Galileo’s

Galileo believes that knowledge about the natural world should come from observations and physical evidence, not solely from the words of the Bible. He proves this point by saying “I think that in discussions of physical problems we ought to begin not from the authority of scriptural passages, but from sense-experiences and the necessary demonstrations;”. Galileo clearly believed that the Holy Scripture was meant to be read and understood, not for what the actual words say, but for the meaning that lies beneath the words. Galileo suggests that his opponents should seek the understand the true meaning of the Scripture, this is because he believes that the Bible was written in such a way as for the common person to be able to comprehend it. Galileo shows that he thinks that his idea that the Earth moves around the Sun is not contradicting the Bible because he believes that the Bible is meant to explain other meanings in a way that even an unlearned person can understand, so while his idea varies to the ideas of the time the Bible was written, it does not try to prove the Bible as false.

He wanted people to become more interested in finding things as if they were scientist like himself. On the other hand, Galileo wanted people to stop including the bible into scientific findings. One of Galileo’s findings as stated in the book, “I hold the sun to be situated motionless in the center of the revolution of the celestial orbs while the Earth rotates on its axis and revolves about the sun” (The Human Record, 42). Galileo made an attempt to explain that his findings do not discredit the religion or the church.

The PBS Documentary Galileo's Battle for the Heavens does not entirely live up to its title as it presents less of a “battle” and more of a series of “misunderstandings”. The documentary follows a highly dramatized version of Galileo's life roughly from his move to Padua to after his house arrest. The trial that came about due to Galileo's possibly heretical book, Dialogue On The Two Great World Systems, is viewed as the final straw in his lifelong struggle to get the Church to accept alternative astrological theories that failed to adhere to their own. While the documentary does admit that the reason for the Catholic Church’s current preoccupation with heresy and dogma was the spreading Protestant Reformation, it then falls into the popular

Religion and science have always been conflicting studies. Religion, being based on faith, relies on the supernatural to explain life and being. Science, on the other hand, cannot do this. Scientists need to eliminate the possibility of the unexplainable in order to maintain and control group by which to measure other groups. The unexplainable I refer to are the miracles that are commonplace in all supernatural religions. Galileo lived in a time where church was state. The land was ruled according to the words of the bible, and anyone in opposition would be in contempt. Galileo's scientific findings were therefore strongly shunned by the church. In 1615 Galileo attempted to explain how these findings came to be

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.

There are at least three separate justification-type questions surrounding the condemnation of Galileo. First, was the Roman Catholic Church justified in accepting Ptolemy over Copernicus? Second, was it justified in issuing the injunction against Galileo in 1616? And third, based on the injunction, was it justified in condemning him in 1633? There may be further ethical and methodological questions surrounding the Church’s actions in Galileo affair, but these will be extrinsic, 21st century questions that a good Roman Catholic of the time would have considered settled. It is these three that will help us understand things from a 17th century Catholic perspective. I will defend the position that while the evidence for Copernicanism was not

In summer of 1609, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) pointed his revolutionary astronomical telescope to the heavens under the starry Venetian sky; his greatly important observations unveiled the mysteries of universe and would end up changing the course of scientific thought forever. Galileo lived in an age where there was much status quo, when scientists and philosophers would accept scientific and religious doctrine that had stood for hundreds, if not thousands, of years instead of challenging the accepted knowledge in favor of intellectual progress. Galileo’s scientific methods lead to significant discoveries explaining key scientific laws, such as the

This paper will be discussing the research of Galileo Galilei and why the church stopped him from continuing any of his research by explaining who he was, what was his research, and why the church prevented him from continuing any research in the future.

The political conflict that engulfs Galileo in Florence arises from the Church’s need to discredit the Copernican theories that “[get] rid of heaven”. The inquisition was the Church’s response to conflict, and although the church’s conflict with Galileo does not test their core values, it demonstrates what their core values are; holding on to power.