In 1633, the Pope imprisoned an innocent man and asked him to recant a certain hypothesis. The man spent the rest of his life under house-arrest. His name was Galileo and his assertion was simple. That the earth revolved round the sun. The Church at the time believed that the earth was the central planet and everything else revolved around it.
I can well imagine living in 1633. The hullabaloo, Galileo must have created. How the elite, the intelligentsia, the theologians, the scribes, the bards, the scientists of the day, must have huddled over unleavened bread and bitter coffee, discussing and debating Galileo. Some talking about rallies and other ways to censure Galileo. Others afraid to contemplate what might be plausible. Afraid because the spectre of the Church by way of the Inquisition was everywhere. And one wrong word could mean years of prison and torture. We live in a different world today. We live in the world of Dan Brown and Timothy Freke. And because men like Galileo, came before us; men who preferred to live their days under house arrest rather than bow in submission, we live in a world where the Church cannot imprison us for deeds or thoughts of so-called heresy. I don't want to take away from the Church, the enormous contribution it has made to society's cultural, spiritual and philosophical evolution. But we cannot live under the yoke of "blind faith". Every hypothesis, however unpalatable it is to the Church has to be examined. No hypothesis is to be construed as a strike against the Church. There is a goal, above all else for mankind and that is the relentless pursuit of the truth. Every new grain of knowledge that comes our way must be examined and if it stands the test of truth in the cold light of day, it must become part of our consciousness. Because the only heresy is to live in denial of the truth. Elisabeth __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list ([email protected])
