Pope Benedict XVI has paid tribute to 17th-Century astronomer Galileo Galilei, whose scientific theories once drew the wrath of the Catholic Church.
The Pope was speaking at events marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's earliest observations with a telescope. He said an understanding of the laws of nature could stimulate appreciation of God's work.
Galileo was accused of heresy in 1633 and forced to publicly recant his theories. He lived the rest of his life under house arrest at his villa in the hills outside Florence.
Ahh i see how it works. When the science contradicts their myth they treat him appallingly and leave him to live the rest of his life under house arrest, But when the science becomes universally accepted and proven it "stimulates appreciation of gods work".
Does it seem to anyone else that their religion changes to fit in with science? I wonder how much of their shit we have to disprove before they just abandon it.
This from the same pope who defended the trial of Darwin.
ReplyDeleteThey will never abandon their beliefs as long as there is some rube that they can fleece.
ReplyDeleteYour post is a bit mistaken. Since both science and religion aim to describe truth (albeit in different terms), they cannot be in disagreement in their correct forms.
ReplyDeleteIf religion and science are in disagreement with each other, it doesn't mean that truth no longer exists, it merely means that either religion or science is in error on the subject at hand.
Seems to me, the Pope was recognizing a time in the past where his church was in error. If his church was really as two-faced as you people seem to believe, they would be trying to insist that they were always in agreement with Galileo.
Instead, they are acknowledging their error - something only possible if you are genuinely pursuing truth.
"If religion and science are in disagreement with each other, it doesn't mean that truth no longer exists, it merely means that either religion or science is in error on the subject at hand."
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be suggesting that religion is actually on equal grounding with science when it comes to determining the truth of a matter.
Not so. Not even close. Science is an examination of the facts, and drawing conclusions from those facts.
Religion is making an assertion based on fiction, and... well, that's about it.
If science and religion are in "disagreement", it basically means that - yet again - religious assertions have been proven to be false. And the religion will retreat to some other gap in current understanding, until it is thoroughly demolished again. Ad infinitum.
The Catholic Church denies Galileo's science, the science is proven to be right. Christian folks deny Darwin's evolutionary theory, science is proven right again. (Despite fundamentalists still trying to deny it. Retards.)
Religion does not genuinely pursue truth in any way. They try and modify truth in order to fit their established fiction, until the facts and evidence so thoroughly demolish the religious assertions until they have no choice but to acknowledge it and try to shoehorn their beliefs in somewhere else.
The only reason the Catholic Church acknowledges the error in this instance is because it has been so thoroughly proven that there is nowhere to hide.
Given the choice, if they could get away with it, they would probably still be denying Galileo's claims, obstructing science, and promoting the geocentric view of the solar system.
They are simply not interested in science which contradicts their established doctrine.