In February 1616, the Inquisition assembled a committee of theologians, known as qualifiers, who delivered their unanimous report condemning Heliocentrism as "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture."
This even landed Copernicus a spot on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (posthumously) even though he had been a Catholic cleric himself.
This even landed Copernicus a spot on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (posthumously) even though he had been a Catholic cleric himself.
Another interesting bit of trivia: far from being a medieval artifact of ignorance and oppression, the Index existed until 1966. Galileo received an apology in 1992, and as far as I'm aware Giordano Bruno remains unpardoned.
But by all means, let's go back to the business of rehabilitating Christianity on the grounds that Bruno was a heretic, Hypatia a pagan, and Galileo an annoying jerk who got what was coming to him.
I take your point, but I think it's worth reflecting that the largest communities in the world where Christianity† needs to be "rehabilitated" are all Internet message boards. If you're working from the premise that Christianity is somehow working its way out from some kind of siege... well, not so much.
Another thing worth remembering is the historical context we're talking about. The list of books banned by Catholicism had a far more important meaning when the Catholic church was a state (or an instrument of the state). It hasn't been that for a very long time.
† (or, if you like, mainstream organized religions)
It is quite common with any religion for monarchs to do inquisitions. In England, you cannot hold a government position unless you are a memeber of the Church of England. When the Church of England was first founded, various Catholics who refused to take part were given sham trials and executed, including Sir Thomas Moore. Today, a government official converting away from the Church of England in England is fired, even if he had been elected into his position. In Saudi Arabia, if any Muslim so much as converts from Islam, they are taken to court and then executed. The Romans crucified Christians or fed them to lions. That was well before Christians were in a position to do any inquisitions of their own. Feudal Japan executed every Christian (man, woman and child) that it could find after a protest turned into an armed conflict. I am not clear on whether that conflict was originally part of that protest or that it became an armed conflict when the response was to kill everyone. You can find plenty of other examples if you look and even more if you include theocracies.
As for why monarchies (and theocracies) do inquisitions, just imagine what would happen if there were a Catholic majority in British parliament, a Muslim majority in parts of Spain back then or some non-Muslim majority in Saudi Arabia. The Church of England would be disolved by act of parliament and those territories would rebel and institute their own monarchs under their religions. The existing governments are not so stupid as let such things happen, so they to try to stay well ahead of them, both then and now. That way all of the existing bureaucrats will keep their jobs and everyone in the business of selling religious objects of the state religion will continue to meet quarterly earning expectations.
I usually try to steer clear of non-technology comments on the internet, but I felt that my 2 cents were sorely needed in this discussion. This back and forth fixation on inquisitions in Catholic countries ignores the larger picture where the religion that the government of the particular country chooses is irrelevant to whether any sort of inquisition is done.
You bet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism#1616_ban_against...
In February 1616, the Inquisition assembled a committee of theologians, known as qualifiers, who delivered their unanimous report condemning Heliocentrism as "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture."
This even landed Copernicus a spot on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (posthumously) even though he had been a Catholic cleric himself.