Science and Religion Three-Way Blog

In my first journal entry, I commented on how I was not completely knowledgeable of the exact happenings of the trial of Galileo, but I did know that religion dealt a hand in the trial and the ultimate decision. In the case of Galileo, for many years the exact details of his trial and his battle with the Church have been misunderstood. Galileo is praised as a martyr of science, yet looking at the facts it suggests otherwise.

During the 16^th century, the Church underwent the Protestant Reformation and the Counter Reformation. The church was very conservative in regards to theology and the Scripture, and it was this attitude that was still present during the time of Galileo’s trial. The Counsel of Trent forbade anyone except the pope and bishops from interpreting the Scriptures. With the discoveries of the laws of motion of falling bodies and projectiles, the law of the pendulum, and a more powerful telescope all by Galileo, he was able to discover that Venus along with the moon underwent regular series of phases thus disproving Ptolemy’s theory. In the Bible it states that the earth is at rest and the sun moves around the earth, but Galileo found this statement to be untrue. Galileo knew Ptolemy’s theory to be false, but by voicing his opinions was challenging the Church and the Counsel of Trent. Unfortunately, however, Galileo was never able to provide concrete evidence to support his theory, and it remained unresolved even at the end of the trial.

Believing in Copernicus’s heliocentric model, Galileo went against the Church’s Decree of 1616 not to teach Copernicanism. Prior to this decree, the theory of the Copernican system had been encouraged in discussion, as long as it remained within the confines of science. In turn, Galileo published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which violated Pope Urban VIII’s order. It was at this point that Galileo’s friendship with the pope ended. Before all of this, Galileo had worked in agreement with the Church and his fellow scientists. He was praised by the Jesuits and had close connections within the Church. A growing ego, a desire for fame, and believing he was always right were all things, which brought about his downfall. With the loss of his connections within the Church, Galileo was thus unable to write whatever he wanted. There was a great amount of animosity towards Galileo, and many people wanted him put away and punished. He was found to be suspected of heresy, and he was condemned in 1633.

Personally, I feel that Galileo cannot really be called a martyr for science. I do not feel that his conflict with the church can be based solely on his desire to further the advancement of science. Towards the end he was claiming other people’s theories to be those of his own, and from this I cannot help but think there had to have been some selfish motives involved. Had Galileo lived a hundred years before, the trial never would have occurred. Due to the time he lived in, however, a time when there was much less tolerance, Galileo’s confrontation attitude turned out to be his downfall. Before class I had never really known the background of Galileo and the information leading up to the trial. I can now say that I have a very different perspective of Galileo and his trial today than I did the first few days of class.

# posted by sarah matthews @ 5:55 PM