tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33325729.post2195220691691270371..comments2023-11-05T03:47:03.674-07:00Comments on The Lost Genre Guild: Catholicism, Progress and Sciencecynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15514785429568086047noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33325729.post-50554826311073523322007-07-26T14:29:00.000-06:002007-07-26T14:29:00.000-06:00The idea that the sun revolved around the sun or e...The idea that the sun revolved around the sun or even that the earth was flat were Greek ideas, culled from the Greek philosopher/scientists. Aristotle was one who believed that. If one reads the Bible, and if the Catholic church hadn't gotten influenced by the Greek Philosophers instead of its Jewish forebearers, it might have been able to think clearly. But the Catholic church has always gotten worldly ideas mixed up with its theology.<BR/><BR/>As for latin, so far the only folks I know who like the idea of yet another way of removing people from the immediacy of God the father are professors, doctors (who study latin) and school teachers. <BR/><BR/>Back in the day I remember William Buckley bewailing the loss of the latin mass. From what I see among my Roman Catholic friends, there's a heavy does of snootiness involved here...and tons of disdain for normal folks who might end up in parishes with the latin mass. Once again, the prospect of moving people away from God, His word, His immediacy. <BR/><BR/>I remember a friend of mine once telling me that all those stories about the inquisition and persecution of Jews were untrue. I rolled my eyes. This comment about Galileo only made me roll my eyes again.<BR/><BR/>Honestly, I think the best thing any denomination should do when faced with some horrible embarrassing truth is to admit it. Christianity is about truth. And the ability to admit that one's past is littered with wrong actions goes a long way to dialogue. But when a denomination insists on always being right-- because it is the true church and can never be wrong-- it only turns people off. Especially Roman Catholics who know the truth, and who think for themselves. -CCarole McDonnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15443401088634718848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33325729.post-14280493320725203752007-07-25T20:20:00.000-06:002007-07-25T20:20:00.000-06:00Do you really think that Galileo was insisting tha...Do you really think that Galileo was insisting that the Church make heliocentrism a part of the dogma, or something like that? If so, why?<BR/><BR/>When he was arguing with other philosophers (scientists, more or less, in modern terms), he was sometimes (not always) scornful of their arguments; and they (not always) deserved it.<BR/><BR/>But all he asked the Church was not to ban the theory. Instead of relying completely on secondary and tertiary sources, try reading some of the documents from the time; e.g., those at Fordham University.<BR/><BR/>How much they didn't disapprove of heliocentrism itself:<BR/><BR/>"We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo . . . have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to the Holy and Divine Scriptures) that the sun is the center of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the center of the world..."<BR/>http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1630galileo.html<BR/><BR/>There's more to it, but I find nothing unclear in "false and contrary to the holy and divine scriptures".<BR/><BR/>A much stronger argument would be to point out that the disastrous Galileo case was pretty well isolated, almost unique in the past thousand years, as an actual suppression of scientific work by the highest levels of the Church. That case isn't quite airtight, but it can be made pretty strongly.Porlock Juniorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16791629233605877049noreply@blogger.com