The life of the great Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) is often portrayed as a straightforward battle between dogmatic religion and the rational liberty of science. “To assert that the earth revolves around the sun,” thundered the powerful Jesuit cardinal and future saint Robert Bellarmine, denouncing Galileo’s heresy, “is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin.”
But this portrayal is an oversimplification if not, indeed, a falsification. (The supposed quotation from Cardinal Bellarmine cited above, for example, is almost certainly fraudulent.) Nor did Galileo’s trial represent a common occurrence. When critics want to call attention to the alleged war between the Catholic Church and science, they invariably cite the story of Galileo. Why? Because there are few other such stories to tell.
Read Full Article »