The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Cycles of history

In 1616, Cardinal Bellarmine, acting on directives from the Inquisition, delivered Galileo Galilei an order not to "hold or defend" the idea that the Earth moves and the Sun stands still at the centre. After offending the Pope by putting the Pope's words in the mouth of a fictitious character named "Simplicio," Galileo was shown the Inquisition's tools of truth-extraction and placed on house arrest for the rest of his life.

Recently, in Rapid City, a person convicted of possession of a Galileic tract was ordered by The Court to have no public role in any such offensive promotion, and held under the threat of torture.

Bob Ellis and Pat Powers chuckled and cheered.

7 comments:

Bob Ellis said...

The incident with Galileo involved the church adopting a secular scientific fallacy. It's a shame that the church bought into the lies of worldly "wisdom" and persecuted someone dedicated to seeking the truth.

And though I hardly have the foggiest idea what you're talking about with this recent incident in Rapid City, I'm reasonably sure that equating Galileo with smoking pot would a laughablly pathetic comparison. Were my foggiest guess to be accurate...

Bob Newland said...

I knew you would not be able to resist the temptation to drop your pants in front of us one more time.

taco said...

Hey Ellis, hate to break it to you, but the Bible says the earth is flat:

http://biblebabble.curbjaw.com/errors.htm

another nonbeliever said...

Forced belief is forced belief no matter the subject.
It would be more interesting to hear you think on your own than rehash doctrine based on foggy fears.

Bob Newland said...

To whom were you directing that, nonbeliever?

nonbeliever said...

Addressed to the one with fog in their eyes... which imho would be more clear without the intervention of religion forcing people to believe what is good or what is of satin.

Bob Newland said...

Satin is nice, but silk is better. Mostly, though, I wear polyester.