What are some reasons why Galileo is guilty with the chuch?

Answer 1

Galileo proposed that the Sun, rather than the Earth, was the center of the Universe. The natural consequence of this configuration is that the Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than the Sun making daily revolutions around the Earth. Galileo did NOT have anything to do with the idea that the Earth is a sphere; in fact, this idea was already widely accepted during Galileo's lifetime.

Galileo's ideas were at odds with a few verses of scripture which claim that the Earth is a firmament, unmoving in any way. Galileo argued that the verses should be treated merely as allegorical poetry rather than as scientific fact. This did not sit well with church leaders, and Galileo's book "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems" was banned by Pope Urban VIII, whose views on geocentrism were put directly into the mouth of a character named Simplicus, often made out to be a fool in the book.

Galileo was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life and ordered never to publish any books. The ban was lifted in 1718 (seventy-six years after Galileo's death) and a mildly censored version of "Dialogues" was published. In 1992 Pope John Paul II expressed regret over the way in which the church handled the Galileo case, and so the scientist was officially exonerated.

EDIT: So, chas_chas_123, I read your link. And to the arguments presented there, I say:

Oh puh-leeeeease!

This is the most blatant attempt I've ever read to cover up the church's indiscriminate acceptance of scripture as literal truth even in the face of mounting scientific evidence to the contrary. Suuure, pass the buck. What a load.

No, chas, the church's former rejection of heliocentrism is EXACTLY the same as Creationists' modern attempts to refute evolution. So when evolution eventually triumphs and Creationists are relegated to the lunatic fringe, much like a geocentrist would be today, will these very same apologists begin back-pedaling to make it look like they NEVER disagreed with evolution, and that anybody who did was influenced by earlier religions that inferred the existence of a supreme architect? Please...stop embarrassing yourselves.

Answer 2

First of all, Galileo is no longer "guilty with the church"...he was officially pardoned about a decade ago.

Galileo made the mistake of thinking that because the pope of the day was a good friend of his, that he could get away with publishing books which went against church doctrine.

Galileo was one of the first popularizers of science, writing his books in the common language, Italian, rather than scholarly Latin, so anybody could read them. His books were written as "dialogs" between scientists of different persuasions, so they make entertaining reading, even today. Galileo thought that by presenting both old and new views he could get away with it, but the old views were presented in a foolish and comical manner, while the new views were well argued, so that the new views won out easily. The conservative faction of the church put the pressure on the pope, and he was forced to put his friend Galileo on trial.

Answer 3

At the time of Galileo, the Catholic church had adopted unBiblical ideas about the universe - including a geo-centric view that the planets and sun revolved around the earth.

Galileo demonstrated that this was false. Since the church had tied itself to unBiblical ideas they had a problem.

Excellent explanation here with some excerpts below:
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/645/

Over two millennia ago, Aristotle (384–322 BC) taught that the earth was the centre of a ‘perfect’ universe in which the movements of the stars were circular and never ending.

Ptolemy (AD 2nd century) expanded these ideas into what became known as the Ptolemaic system.

Then in the 16th century, Copernicus (1473–1543) postulated as a better explanation that the earth and planets revolved around the sun.

In the 17th century, Galileo (1564–1642), with his telescope, was able to carry out repeated and repeatable observations which refuted Aristotle and Ptolemy, and supported Copernicus. For example, he observed that the sun had spots which moved across its surface, showing that the sun was not ‘perfect’ and it itself rotated; he observed the phases of Venus, showing that Venus must orbit the sun; and he discovered four moons that revolve around Jupiter, not the Earth, showing that the Earth was not the centre of everything. In 1618, he observed three comets pass effortlessly through Ptolemy’s crystalline spheres (in which the planets and stars supposedly moved around the Earth), showing that these spheres must be imaginary.

The Church leaders had accepted as dogma the belief system of the pagan (i.e. non-Christian) philosophers, Aristotle and Ptolemy, which had become the worldview of the then scientific establishment. The result was that Church leaders were using the knowledge of the day to interpret Scripture, instead of using the Bible to evaluate the knowledge of the day.

They clung to the ‘majority opinion’ about the universe and rejected the ‘minority view’ of Copernicus and Galileo, even after Galileo had presented indisputable evidence based on repeatable scientific observations that the majority was wrong.

Answer 4

he WAS guilty. they finally apologized in the 1990's. he was NOT burnt at the stake. he was kept under house arrest. and he didn't say the earth was flat. he had invented the telescope and through his observations he noticed that the solar system was heliocentric, meaning the planets revolve around the sun. the church's position was that everything revolved around the earth. therefore they considered him a heretic and had to silence him.

Answer 5

The main reason was he persisted in thinking. The Catholic church like all churches likes conformist drones that do what their told and give lots of money. If you start asking questions about the nature of things it's not long till you start asking questions about politics and religion. A corrupt organization like the C.C. does not want people looking into it.

Answer 6

There could be no valid reason, the guilty party was the church.

Answer 7

The sad truth is that in Gallileos time people and not just churches did not accept science in that time,, Gallileo was chastized for being able to see the real truth that all things were in fact revolving around earth and not the earth revolving around all things

Answer 8

well they thought the earth was flat and he knew it was not
so they said he war a heretic and burnt him at a stake