That Holy Office had an international group of consultants (experienced scholars of theology and canon law) who advised it on specific questions, one of which was heliocentrism.
In 1616 these consultants gave their assessment of the propositions that the Sun is immobile and at the center of the universe and that the Earth moves around it (Heliocentric) judging both to be “foolish and absurd in philosophy,” and the first to be “formally heretical” and the second “at least erroneous in faith” in theology.
Copernicus's De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books. Galileo Galilei was admonished about his heliocentrism and in 1633 he was tried and condemned for a “grave suspicion of heresy”. All his works were banned.
Among the subjects of this Inquisition were Francesco Patrizi, Fra Giordano Bruno, Tommaso Campanella, Girolamo Cardano, Cesare Cremonini, and Galileo Galilei. Of these, only Fra Bruno was executed, burned at the stake; Galileo died under house arrest, and Campanella was imprisoned for twenty-seven years.
I appreciate your providing recommended reading but I assure you I agree whole heartedly with the title of the second, for if the Roman Catholic Church had never existed there would be no Western Civilization as we know it today.
That does not mean the Church's past behavior never occurred and I need deprogramming! Doctor, really, that was an insulting thing to say.
but the Church has persecuted and executed scientists in the past
To which I took exception, and asked for names, dates and links. This is the subject on which you needed deprogramming. Fra Bruno was condemned, but not because he was a scientist or because of his support or defense of science, but because of his panteism:
Thus, his system of thought is an incoherent materialistic pantheism. God and the world are one; matter and spirit, body and soul, are two phases of the same substance; the universe is infinite; beyond the visible world there is an infinity of other worlds, each of which is inhabited; this terrestrial globe has a soul; in fact, each and every part of it, mineral as well as plant and animal, is animated; all matter is made up of the same elements (no distinction between terrestrial and celestial matter); all souls are akin (transmigration is, therefore, not impossible). This unitary point of view is Bruno's justification of "natural magic." No doubt, the attempt to establish a scientific continuity among all the phenomena of nature is an important manifestation of the modern spirit, and interesting, especially on account of its appearance at the moment when the medieval point of view was being abandoned. And one can readily understand how Bruno's effort to establish a unitary concept of nature commanded the admiration of such men as Spinoza, Jacobi, and Hegel. On the other hand, the exaggerations, the limitations, and the positive errors of his scientific system; his intolerance of even those who were working for the reforms to which he was devoted; the false analogies, fantastic allegories, and sophistical reasonings into which his emotional fervour often betrayed him have justified, in the eyes of many, Bayle's characterization of him as "the knight-errant of philosophy." His attitude of mind towards religious truth was that of a rationalist. Personally, he failed to feel any of the vital significance of Christianity as a religious system. It was not a Roman Inquisitor, but a Protestant divine, who said of him that he was "a man of great capacity, with infinite knowledge, but not a trace of religion."The inquisition is the subject of another day, but to claim the Church has executed scientists simply because they were acting in their capacity as scientists is beyond ridiculous.
Frankly, in this day and age, a Christian conservative would fare much better under a Roman Inquisition than under the Holder Justice Department.
And in its day, the Roman Inquisition was head and shoulders above the secular courts in actually demanding proof and meeting out justice. You didn't want to be tried in secular courts back then.
Oh yeah, one last thought: I'd much rather the Roman Inquisition be restored than Sharia law make any further advances in western culture.
You're right, my apologies.