Honest indignation

As a Christian astronomer it is wonderful to read the expansive
writings of Galileo whereas this era of limited intellects re-write
history for their very limited ends.The great minds could move between
disciplines with ease and discuss relationships without skipping a
beat whereas the phony type of individual is inclined to twist
historical characters and their insights towards whatever end is
desired.Many use Galileo as an example of Church opposition to
heliocentric reasoning with little understanding of the ins and outs
of it themselves and I regret not meeting people who have actually
risen to the level of basic heliocentric reasoning never mind the
refinements or even how Galileo viewed his detractors -

"In order to facilitate their designs, they seek so far as possible
(at least among the common people) to make this opinion seem new and
to belong to me alone. They pretend not to know that its author, or
rather its restorer and confirmer, was Nicholas Copernicus; and that
he was not only a Catholic, but a priest and a canon. He was in fact
so esteemed by the church that when the Lateran Council under Leo X
took up the correction of the church calendar, Copernicus was called
to Rome from the most remote parts of Germany to undertake its reform.
At that time the calendar was defective because the true measures of
the year and the lunar month were not exactly known. The Bishop of
Culm, then superintendent of this matter, assigned Copernicus to seek
more light and greater certainty concerning the celestial motions by
means of constant study and labor. With Herculean toil he set his
admirable mind to this task, and he made such great progress in this
science and brought our knowledge of the heavenly motions to such
precision that he became celebrated as an astronomer. Since that time
not only has the calendar been regulated by his teachings, but tables
of all the motions of the planets have been calculated as well.

Having reduced his system into six books, he published these at the
insistence of the Cardinal of Capua and the Bishop of Culm. And since
he had assumed his laborious enterprise by order of the supreme
pontiff, he dedicated this book On the celestial revolutions to Pope
Paul III. When printed, the book was accepted by the holy Church, and
it has been read and studied by everyone without the faintest hint of
any objection ever being conceived against its doctrines."

http://www.galilean-library.org/manu...p?postid=43841

It is also the expansive views of those who Galileo chooses to quote
that binds our kind together,even allowing for differences in temporal
things such as Augustine -

"Some of the brethren raise a question concerning the motion of
heaven, whether it is fixed or moved. If it is moved, they say, how is
it a firmament? If it stands still, how do these stars which are held
fixed in it go round from east to west, the more northerly performing
shorter circuits near the pole, so that the heaven (if there is
another pole unknown to us) may seem to revolve upon some axis, or (if
there is no other pole) may be thought to move as a discus? To these
men I reply that it would require many subtle and profound reasonings
to find out which of these things is actually so; but to undertake
this and discuss it is consistent neither with my leisure nor with the
duty of those whom I desire to instruct in essential matters more
directly conducing to their salvation and to the benefit of the holy
Church." St Augustine

Here we are in the 21st century and men still have the motions of the
Earth chained to the same celestial sphere geometry that Augustine
noticed but did he not have the technical arguments or the time to
contemplate it further, Archbishop Cusa did and left the way open for
Copernicus to detail the motions of the Earth -an incredible
achievement !

How our race went from geocentricity to heliocentricity and back to
astrological sub-geocentricity is nothing short of a holocaust for
there is no longer joy or love for the celestial arena,just a craving
for grandstanding and self-congratulation.This is not a complaint,just
honest indignation.