----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Baker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 9:16 AM Subject: Re: America the Theocracy
> Dan said: > > > So, I guess the fact that officially atheistic countries, such as the > > USSR have had a much better track record in science than countries > > with a large fraction of church going Christians, like the US > > supports your contention. > > Of course not: it just means that such countries will also be partly > responsible for some of the deaths this century, as well as for many > millions of deaths in the last century. So, how did the Catholic church delay the progress of science? The classic example that is used is, of course, Galileo, but a moderately careful review would show that it wasn't a theological problem at all. One of the two greatest doctors of the Church, Aquinas, explicitly wrote that scripture should not be used as a reference for natural philosophy. The problem with Galileo was that he was in strong opposition to Aristotle and Greek though in general, not to scriptures. The classicists were in power in Rome at the time. Galileo was, for a long time, good friends with the Pope. He was scorned for daring to argue against the greatest thinkers of all time, those of the Golden Age of Humanity. He made the apolitical move of mocking the pope in one of his works. His punishment for going against the political establishment of the time was house arrest. By the standards of the time, it was a light slap on the wrist. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
