Originally posted by Zahlanzi
odd, i always thought you were catholic. i waz confused i guess.


there is indirect evidence. galileo recanted because he was in danger of being imprisoned at the inquisition's pleasure. that would be enough of a threat of torture because the inquisition WAS basically a torture institution.

odd, i always thought you were catholic. i waz confused i guess

I was a Catholic and, as ThinkofOne rightly says, I have oscillated between Catholicism and atheism quite often. When I first came onto this forum, I was actually something of a fundamentalist Christian and was skeptical of evolution. People change.

there is indirect evidence. galileo recanted because he was in danger of being imprisoned at the inquisition's pleasure. that would be enough of a threat of torture because the inquisition WAS basically a torture institution.

Well, I don't want to labor the point since I agree that Galileo was threatened with torture. I just think that there are other explanation for his later repudiation of his work. He was after all a devout Catholic and a friend to the pope of the time. I also think that the threat of torture was not specifically to make him recant but to make him admit that he was promoting heliocentrism. I only read this in a secondary source; I cannot find the primary document. I will link to the book on google books if I can.

Originally posted by Conrau K
[b]odd, i always thought you were catholic. i waz confused i guess

I was a Catholic and, as ThinkofOne rightly says, I have oscillated between Catholicism and atheism quite often. When I first came onto this forum, I was actually something of a fundamentalist Christian and was skeptical of evolution. People change.

there is indirect evid ...[text shortened]... source; I cannot find the primary document. I will link to the book on google books if I can.

read the wikipedia entry on him, it's pretty detailed. he was no longer a friend of the pope at the time of his almost getting trialed. he managed to piss him off. left with no supporters who could protect him from the inquisition, he decided to go the route that would leave him as breathing as possible.