Freethought & Rationalism Archive

neilgodfrey · 06-01-2007, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Shaver

Every impartial source I've read has said the church accommodated itself to the heliocentrism rather quickly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Originally Posted by neilgodfrey

Which writers make that claim then?

Most of my reading in that area was several years ago. The only name I can recall off the top of my head is Isaac Asimov.

Maybe he read the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Checking its articles on Copernicus and Galileo it is clear the Church only tolerated the heliocentric view of Copernicus so long as it was kept at the status of hypothesis only. And Copernicus himself complied, good Catholic that he was.

All hell broke loose whenever anyone spoke of it as a fact.

Does that sound eerily similar to any contemporary issue?

Here's the extract from the New Advent article on Copernicus:

Quote:

Opposition was first raised against the Copernican system by Protestant theologians for Biblical reasons and strange to say it has continued, at least sporadically, to our own days. A list of many of their Pamphlets is enumerated by Beckmann. On the Catholic side opposition only commenced seventy-three years later, when it was occasioned by Galileo. On 5 March, 1616, the work of Copernicus was forbidden by the Congregation of the Index "until corrected", and in 1620 these corrections were indicated. Nine sentences, by which the heliocentric system was represented as certain, had to be either omitted or changed. This done, the reading of the book was allowed. In 1758 the book of Copernicus disappeared from the revised Index of Benedict XIV.

And from the article on Galileo:

Quote:

What was objected to was the assertion that Copernicanism was in fact true, "which appears to contradict Scripture". It is clear, moreover, that the authors of the judgment themselves did not consider it to be absolutely final and irreversible, for Cardinal Bellarmine, the most influential member of the Sacred College, writing to Foscarini, after urging that he and Galileo should be content to show that their system explains all celestial phenomena -- an unexceptional proposition, and one sufficient for all practical purposes -- but should not categorically assert what seemed to contradict the Bible, thus continued:

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I say that if a real proof be found that the sun is fixed and does not revolve round the earth, but the earth round the sun, then it will be necessary, very carefully, to proceed to the explanation of the passages of Scripture which appear to be contrary, and we should rather say that we have misunderstood these than pronounce that to be false which is demonstrated.

By this decree the work of Copernicus was for the first time prohibited, as well as the "Epitome" of Kepler, but in each instance only donec corrigatur, the corrections prescribed being such as were necessary to exhibit the Copernican system as an hypothesis, not as an established fact.

On the Revolutions of the Celestial Bodies published 1543 -- finally accepted 1758, 215 years later, by the Church.

The Origin of the Species published 1859 -- and 215 years later .....?

Neil Godfrey

http://vridar.wordpress.com

Roger Pearse · 06-02-2007, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Don't worry we're living the last days, the last days of the Church.

Those of us with a little history will smile wryly at this. Didn't Voltaire say the same? You're two centuries late, my friend.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

CalUWxBill · 06-02-2007, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Pearse

Quote:

Don't worry we're living the last days, the last days of the Church.

Those of us with a little history will smile wryly at this. Didn't Voltaire say the same? You're two centuries late, my friend.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Yes, the church evolves like everything else in this world. There's no proof that there's not a God, so people will hang on to their beliefs, some out of fear, others out of hope, but rarely out of a rational look at their world.

Chris Weimer · 06-02-2007, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Pearse

Those of us with a little history will smile wryly at this. Didn't Voltaire say the same? You're two centuries late, my friend.

Yes, it does seem odd that one would expect the church to go away any time soon. After all, we still have Hinduism, a religion predating Christianity by centuries. The church will evolve, not "go away". And for the next couple of centuries, perhaps the next millennium or more, there will be the "revivals". And as long as we have people, there will always be geocentrists.

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