Admitting a mistake need Courage. How do you view on this news, 400 yrs late: Vatican honours Galileo?

My friend ,

That is the greatness of Hinduism which is blamed stagnant and never encouraged science by some people.

Many scientists and thinkers were punished or executed for talking against what the church/religion professed in the west over past centuries.

But we did not punish Arya Bhatta, Bhaskara, Sushrutha but welcomed their ideas.

Our scriptures interpreted in right faith are scientific more than blind belief.

Thankfully we do not have much to repent but regret the down fall of such rational blend of faith and reason.

The Church was very hard on humanistic teachings that they believed went against the Bible.

They rejected Galileo because the Psalms said the Earth was “immovable”. At that time they could not reconcile Galileo’s assertion that the world was moving with Scripture saying that the Earth was immovable. This shows that the Church was not jumping on the humanistic bandwagon.

The Church always considered Scripture to be superior to human scientific inquiry.

The important thing was that they gave prominence to Scripture (the Word of God) over humanistic science (the assertions of man’s observations).

I agree admitting a mistake need a courage. But, those do mistakes only to admit. If my great grand father did a mistake and when i come to know it after a decade or 100 years after and admitting it a mistake means a courage? It is not a mistake first, it is an error only. Vatican also not said it a mistake. All should understand that an error can be rectified and a mistake can never been rectified. A mistake is something between two individuals. An error is something done with or without knowledge, and can be rectified and for this no courage is needed. Admitting mistake is the one for which courage is needed. In the said matter, if the Galileo alive and those who did not accept his version of research and initiation, now accepts later, it is a good courage. The said people on that time not here now. So, it should be treated an error only and can appreciate the correcting error. First there is not facility or meachanism in those days before 400 years, and naturally people did not know or aware of matters, and hence they did not agree or disagreed. Now, the technology is in advance. The research facilities are available. This is the time the youngest scientists, researchers challenging the great people's scientific research they done some 100 years before. Vatican not only honour the Galileo, but also the researchers.

Simply, it was a war between Galileo and the holy church. This is the backdrop of our story; the conflict between science and scientists, and the deeply held views of the Church and Churchmen. In truth it was a conflict between fact and dogmatic faith, a theme that is still with us today. An observation, if confirmed, becomes an indisputable fact; faith, on the other hand, involves (and requires) the conscious desire to believe in something. On the face of it, facts should always win out against beliefs, but throughout history there are numerous examples where this has simply not been the case. Today's story is just one of them. Some writers believe that the feud between Galileo and Pope Urban VIII started the schism between science and religion. I'm not sure that's true - several of Galileo's predecessors and contemporaries also experienced difficulties, real or imagined, nor was persecution confined to Catholics; for example, Johannes Kepler, a Protestant, and a contemporary of Galileo, was hounded by the Lutherans. But Galileo's case is probably the best example and certainly the most well known.

So, who was this man, Galileo? To most people, Galileo is probably best remembered for two things; dropping objects like cannon balls from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the invention of the telescope. Actually, neither of these notions are correct! If forced to describe his contributions in a few sentences I would say he gave us not laws nor proofs, as Newton did, but he showed us a coherence in the way things fit together to give the whole picture. He combined common sense with mathematical logic, even if sometimes it flew in the face of reason; for example, the fact that objects of different weight all fall at the same rate. That's difficult to understand even today; you ask the students in my physics classes.

Galileo's long period of service at Padua had brought him honor - the Department of Physics is now named after him - as well as some controversy to the University. Grand Duke Cosimo thought that Tuscany probably offered him a better 'political climate' for his studies. However, the republic of Venice was a true republic. The Venetian Senate was sharply opposed to any foreign intervention, even if cloaked in the sacred authority of the Church of Rome. On the other hand the grand dukes of Tuscany remained subservient to the Church of Rome. When he left Venice, then, in 1610, Galileo, aged 46, didn't realize he was leaving the relative security of Venice and was putting himself in jeopardy in Tuscany; he truly believed the most difficult times had passed. In reality, he was only making things easier for his enemies.

Totally, it was a war between religion and science. GALILEO GALILEI vs THE CHURCH:

INCOMPATIBILITY OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION

(1616 - 1642)

please accept my congratulations for bringing a great matter. please also note, i am not finding fault on your question or with you, but only pointing the difference between an error and mistake, hope you can take positively. Those days are the days where the church ruled i mean religion ruled the state and even in scientific field, a church was the authority to accept or deny. The same church which denied now approved is a great matter, but i find no courageous act, but rectified an error only.

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Trisha

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I don't think any courage shown by the Vatican. If one admits his mistake in front of the proper person (here Galileo) and seeks apology then it is called courage. If I slap you for no fault of yours, thinking I am right and your are wrong. Then I felt it is wrong about 50 years later by the time you are no more. Now I declare I am at fault and I seek your apology, is it courage. It is just childish. What is the guarantee that in four hundred years hence another apology will not be sought for this apology.

A mistake has to be admitted by any one if not immediately but hundred or even thousands of years later. Do you as a Tamilian heard of Varahamurthy. Varaha means a pig. Mahavishnu took Varaha avatar and bought the earth carring it on his mouth and you know what was shape ? As the scientists says today same round. The kings of ancient India took advice of Rishis called Rajarishi and their empire flurished. After the advent of muslim this stopped o.k.. that is His will and during the marath king Shivaji Sant Ramdas adviced him how to rule and the ancient Indian culture flurished again. You should be proud of beingan Indain.

It's not about courage it's about a cruel religion being forced by logic, evidence and reason to make a turn on something proven for all to see. With the world turning it's back on religion and treating it in the manner it deserves, the church has to change or die.

The Vatican has honored Galileo for at least 270 years.

Neither the Scientific Community nor the Church had a problem with the heliocentric theory of Copernicus or Galileo that said that the sun was the center of the universe. It was when Galileo said it was fact without enough repeatable scientific evidence (as the scientific method requires) that he got into trouble.

By the way, the heliocentric theory that claimed the sun was the center of the universe instead of the Earth, was also incorrect. The sun is the center of the solar system but not the universe.

In 1741, Pope Benedict XIV granted an imprimatur (an official approval) to the first edition of the Complete Works of Galileo.

“[Galileo] declared explicitly that the two truths, of faith and of science, can never contradict each other, 'Sacred Scripture and the natural world proceeding equally from the divine Word, the first as dictated by the Holy Spirit, the second as a very faithful executor of the commands of God', as he wrote in his letter to Father Benedetto Castelli on 21 December 1613. The Second Vatican Council says the same thing, even adopting similar language in its teaching: 'Methodical research, in all realms of knowledge, if it respects... moral norms, will never be genuinely opposed to faith: the reality of the world and of faith have their origin in the same God' (Gaudium et Spes, 36). Galileo sensed in his scientific research the presence of the Creator who, stirring in the depths of his spirit, stimulated him, anticipating and assisting his intuitions”: John Paul II, Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (10 November 1979): Insegnamenti, II, 2 (1979), 1111-1112. From the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/enc...

For more information, see: http://web.archive.org/web/20071209222631/

http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Issues/Gal...

With love in Christ

Galileo was born during the renaissance and people back then were into inventing and none religouse and thought that they should live a normal religion free life on earth or something

I agree with you that admitting a mistake needs courage,

but I think,

the admittance should not take so much of time.

That admission is "old hat". I wouldn't have wasted my time with any such "celebration" or "multi-media art exhibit" or "installation". It's just to blase to worry about. God Bless you.