Religion v. Science: Galileo
The “heretical” act of looking through the telescope
The Earth revolves around the sun. That might not sound like a cause for ex-communication but try telling that to Galileo. He created a telescope and used it to track the movement of the sun. Like everyone else, he believed the sun rose in the east and traveled across the sky like a flying chariot until it dipped below the horizon in the west. But when he looked through the telescope, that was not what he saw. The sun did not move as he expected it.
Eventually, he figured it out. The earth revolved around the sun. What appeared to be the sun moving through the sky was actually the sun remaining in place while the earth rotated on its axis.
What happened when he reported what he saw? Do you think they said, “So it turns out we were wrong for all these thousands of years when we thought the sun flew through the sky like a fiery chariot. Let me just look through the telescope. I need to see for myself. Yep, you’re right, Galileo. The earth revolves around the sun.”
No. Everyone knew he was wrong, not just because this was something everyone had known for thousands of years. He had to be wrong because the Bible said so. The Bible says Joshua made the sun stand still in the sky.
Then spake Joshua to the LORD in…
