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To: SamuraiScot

“Open a book, or go online. Look up “Copernicus.” I gather you can read, so take it from there.

Then get back to me and tell me about Copernicus and why he published his theories of planetary motion.”

If he had the support of the church, then why was it banned by the church?


77 posted on 04/15/2017 2:30:21 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: TexasGator
If he had the support of the church, then why was it banned by the church?

You did your research well, my friend. There were several details I was unaware of, thank you.

The answer to your question is that a century elapsed between Copernicus's publication and Galileo's tribulations. The nature of the solar system is a pretty earth-shaking question. But at the same time, in the Church's view, it's not a matter of Church teaching on faith or morals, so Popes and cardinals in different eras may make different judgments about which claims seem well proven and which don't--and which ideas risk causing scandal or fear among the faithful, and shouldn't be handled carelesly. If a shocking theory can't be proven definitively to be true, and especially if the man promoting it was a bit of a bomb-thrower, the judgment in Galileo's time was that they shouldn't be claimed as fact. The channels were a little more open for Copernicus.

In the 16th century, the epicenter of the issue was Galileo himself. The ecclesial authorities more or less decided he was causing scandal by acting like a jerk. As I recall, the theory wasn't banned--Galileo was just banned from espousing it publicly. The difference in treatment probably had more to do with the attitude, position, and persona of Galileo versus those of Canon Copernicus.

88 posted on 04/16/2017 12:52:27 AM PDT by SamuraiScot
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