Faith & Science
Physics, Earth & Space
Listen: Did Galileo Prove the Catholic Church’s Irrational Opposition to Science?
On a new episode of ID the Future, host Andrew McDiarmid interviews science historian and author Michael Keas about Keas’s new book, Unbelievable: 7 Myths About the History and Future of Science and Religion.
Download the podcast or listen to it here.
The myth this time is that the Roman Catholic Church tortured Galileo for opposing official teachings on the structure of what we now call the solar system. In fact Galileo had found support for heliocentrism but hadn’t proved it scientifically; there were scientists and theologians both against him and for him; and he wasn’t tortured, anyway.
There’s plenty here for both scientists and theologians to learn — as well as anyone who thinks Galileo shows the Church was at war against science.
Image: Galileo interrogated, by Cristiano Banti [Public domain].