[JCBreckenridge]

Regardless of charge? You’re seriously arguing that the charge doesn’t matter?

The charge *does* matter.

Had Galileo stated that his answers applied to the celestial realm and not to the teachings of the bible - he would have been fine.

Galileo went beyond that - asserting that where scripture and his teaching contradicted his teaching took precedence. This is why Protestants hail him as their private personal hero - because he affirms that the magisterium is not the authority, personal conviction is the authority.

[BipolarBob]

"Galileo went beyond that - asserting that where scripture and his teaching contradicted his teaching took precedence."

Is that what you were taught? He knew better than to openly cross the tyrannical Church I don't care if he thought the moon was made of green cheese. What gave your Church the right to imprison an old man in poor health?? Who do they think they are? Is this the Spirit of Christ? Did Jesus preach imprisonment of those who didn't believe a certain way? Heliocentrism is a FACT and it don't take no Rocket Scientist to know that.

[wonkowasright]

The sheer extent to Galileo's foray into Theology wasn't clear to me until I read his letter to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany If you have not read it its fascinating.

Folks fail to grasp it wasn't Science -vs- Church it was Galileo -vs- Science and the Church. Such shining lights as Tycho Brahe renounced Galileo's ideas as well. Mostly because there was no experimental evidence to support it, we could not detect parallax and failure to do so was seen as disproving the theory. That and Galileo's silly notion that tides were caused by the earths motion causing sloshing, in contradiction of the theory by St. Bede and others prior to him that it was caused by the Moon etc. didn't help either.