 |
Vatican recants with a statue of Galileo – Timesonline.co.uk: Four hundred years after it put Galileo on trial for heresy the Vatican is to complete its rehabilitation of the great scientist by erecting a statue of him inside the Vatican walls. |
The planned statue is to stand in the Vatican gardens near the apartment in which Galileo was incarcerated while awaiting trial in 1633 for advocating heliocentrism, the Copernican doctrine that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
Nicola Cabibbo, head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a nuclear physicist, said: “The Church wants to close the Galileo affair and reach a definitive understanding not only of his great legacy but also of the relationship between science and faith.”
400 years? What took you so long?
And about time.
Since the Vatican is making amends where is the statue of William Tyndale? Something to apologize for the Inquisition in general? Perhaps they will place Galileo’s statue next to Joan of Arc and build a mound using skulls of hundreds of the nameless people murdered for heresy or blasphemy. If you want me to believe the Pope is sorry, start by denouncing the “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”.
“If some currently accepted scientific theory was proven wrong now, you can bet the (supposedly) “objective” scientific community would oppose it strictly for emotional reasons.”
Wrong there Greg. It’s the scientific community that has historically thoroughly tested any claims and accepted resultant proof, while the theologic community has shunned all contrary claims and thoroughly opposed and denied supporting evidence. It’s understandable, because they have everything to lose and wont easily give up the lie that validates them, while a scientist must simply accept the change as an improvement and a step forward.
#18 & #23
Hi there, just wanted to point out that, even if that’s the reigning opinion (science beeing always just “objective”), folks like Thomas Kuhn think differently. He basically states that once on a “paradigm” you don’t judge the model you’re on, until too many inconsistencies show up. He takes into account some more sociological aspects of the scientific comunity and, ultimately reasons that, because from inside of a paradigm you cannot judge another one (there’s no basic assumtions in common), the choice between the two is an irrational one.
Please note, before the bashing begins, that I’m deeply religious (commited to the church of FSM). No, seriously, it’s not about science or religion beeing better than the other. But not seeing the limitations of science (or should I say, of scientists, actually) seems a little dangerous to me.
ah, #24, jmexico, very good observation, however, you can’t deny that in the large scale of things, science is “the new kid on the block”, the new paradigm and religion is the old thought model that has so much trouble overcoming it’s limitations. Not only do religious people have trouble thinking outside their box, they don’t actually want to because it would mean a) giving up the cozy feeling of having special devine protection and b) giving up power.
But actually: you cannot apply scientific methods to religion because religion is utterly un-scientific. Science relies on knowledge, religion defies it.
pj
What’s really funny about this story is that the Times cited Solange Strong Hertz, an utter crackpot who advocates geocentrism and thinks electricity is Satanic.
I expanded on this curious happening here:
http://kevinjjones.blogspot.com/2008/03/galileo-story-in-times-references-ultra.html
# 5 Sinn Fein said,
Like the Jews putting up a statue of Hitler in Jerusalem as sign of forgiveness and reconciliation with the German people.
Not quite. It would be more like Hitler putting up a statue to honor the Jews
# 17 Greg Allen said,
You guys act like Vatian just finally accepted Galileo!
A did a quick check on Google — the ban was lifted on his theories in 1718. They erected a monument to honor him in 1737.
The *ban* may have been lifted on this theories in 1718, but they did not *accept* his theory that the Earth was not stationary until 1992 (at least officially).
Condamnation of Galileo.
In 1633, Galileo was condemned by the Church for biblical and scientific reasons. Subsequently, science gradually proved that Galileo’s theory was correct.
I reconsidered the ultimate phase of the trial of the astronomer: the contradiction of his new thesis with regard to the biblical verses sustained by the Church.
In my French book “Entre Galilée et l’Église : la Bible” (Between Galileo and the Church, the Bible…) I analyse the conflicting verses. And I demonstrate, through a comprehensive semantic study, that in the Hebrew and Greek Texts, the sun does not turn around the Earth, contrary to what the versions assert. I conclude that if the translations of the Bible had been faithful to the original Texts, Galileo would not have been condemned for “having held and believed a doctrine which is false and contrary to the divine and Holy Scripture.”
As a result of his study, I clarify the many debates held through the centuries and endeavour to align the translations of the Bible with their original Texts and to officially rehabilitate Galileo.
Joël Col