Also, the historical information regarding Galileo othe posters have listed here here is not correct, in that it is said that he was persecuted not for promoting the heliocentric theory, but because he drew theological conclusions from it without first consulting the Church.
This is wrong for several reasons. First off, before Galileo, less famous scientists were burned by order of the Catholic Church for researching and believing the heliocentric theory. The only reason Galileo himself escaped a death sentence was most likely his close relationship with the very powerful Medici family.
Secondly, Galileo did NOT draw theological conclusions from his theory. He presented the heliocentric theory as a “dialogue.” That is, he wrote a book with three different characters discussing the theory. One character promoted it, another character denied it, and a third character was undecided. The dialogue was designed to be portrayed as a hypothetical discussion that debated the merits of the heliocentric theory.
Thirdly, at the time when Galileo published his work, published works were strictly censored in the Iatlian provinces and all books were required to be submitted to Church authorities to review it before publishing. Galileo submitted his work to a Church reviewer, they approved it and told him he was allowed to publish it and he was not breaking heresy laws by doing so specifically because he wrote out the theory in such a way that it drew no theological conclusions and in fact did not even state that heliocentrism was certainly true, it only presented the merits of the heliocentric theory. It was only after the publication, when powerful and influential cardinals who had a long standing grudge against Galileo due to past personal dealins with him started petitioning Pope Urban VIII and later Pope Paul V to persecute Galileo that he was arrested and charged with heresy by the Inquisition.
What about the fact that early practitioners of medicine, particularly in the dark ages, were often regarded as witches and burned as heretics? I’m not talking about people who called themselves witches and who sought to make magical remedies. I’m talking about midwives, physicks, etc, who, as practicing Catholics, sought natural remedies for afflictions. Were they right to be burned? Why aren’t we burning nurses, doctors, pharmacists, etc today if these past actions of the Church were not wrong and were guided by the Holy Spirit?
What about the Jews who were burned during the Black Death? When the Black Death ravaged Europe throughout the 1300s, an unfortunate scapegoat became the Jews. many believed that either the Jews had deliberately caused the plague, either through poison or witchcraft. The result was that Jews, sometimes on the orders of Church authorities, were killed in the thousands. One of the more common methods was to round up all the Jews in a community, lock them all in a wood structure (such as a barn), and then set it on fire. Thousands of Jewish men, women, and children were burned to death, sometimes on the authority of (or with the blessing of) Church authorities. Were they not wrong to do this? Did Jews actually cause the Black Death?
The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland is Cardinal Sean Brady. The Cardinal not only was aware of sexual abuse of children by one of his priests, he not only allowed this priest to continue to work with children directly after he became aware of abuse, but he actually accosted and made the children sign documents promising to never tell anyone they had been abused.** Did the Holy Spirit tell him to be an accessory to child molestation, and tell him to coerce child molestation victims into silence?
I do not think Moore missed the mark at all!
