In the United States, global climate change is a hot topic. Particularly among Catholics who tend to be politically conservative. American political conservatives don't usually accept the science on global warming. The problem? The Catholic Church does accept the science, and now there's a request that priests learn about it as part of their formation.There's a saying that the Catholic Church is always fighting the last century's battles: geocentrism in the 16th century; socialism in the 20th century. Now they are joining forces with a competing religion.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Paging Galileo
12/9/16 Catholic Online:
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As a Catholic, I am not fond of our current pope's stand on global warming.|
ReplyDeleteBut, I am really sick of Galileo propaganda. Galileo was not persecuted for heliocentrism - Copernicus had already established the theory and it was pretty well accepted. Galileo was prosecuted for heresy, for claiming that science proved that particular miracles were impossible, and for doing it in a very nasty way that was personally insulting to the pope, who was also Galileo's long time personal friend.
Yes, when I was a young protestant student in public schools, I too heard the propaganda about Galileo. But like so many American beliefs about Catholicism, it was a lie, a result of a long standing anti-Catholic trend in American life (inherited from Britain, where they executed any priests they could find).
I should have included the following link. The subject of Galileo is complex, and the reality is far from the popular mythology.
ReplyDeletehttp://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-great-ptolemaic-smackdown.html
I am aware that the Galileo story is often oversimplified. He taught as proven what was still only a theory. There is some reason to think he was made a fall guy to hide the Pope's use of an astrologer.
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