I think it was, but that's beside the point.
I'm wondering what the moral equivalence is between someone publishing a theory, and a church imprisoning a person for disagreeing with them.
If I gave that impression, I'm sorry. What I was trying to say was that if Galileo had REALLY wanted to further the cause of science, he would not have used his discovery as a club to try to attack the Church.
I am not an apologist for the Church as a political power. People's politics can be motivated by their beliefs, but the Church, as an institution, should not be governing nor directing governments.
How is this behaviour of the church different from the behavior of the Taliban?
Conceptually, it is not.
Shalom.
Why should it matter what Galileo's motives were, or why should it matter whether he was right?
The supression of ideas by authority is the greatest single crime that can be committed. Worse than rape or murder, because crimes against the body affect a limited number of people. Crimes agains free speech are crimes against the mind, the greatest gift we have.