I wonder if the conventional explanation of the Galileo incident is correct.
It seems to me that certain *thirteenth* century events caused the
church to accept Aristotelian ideas concerning the nature of the universe.
Scientists converted the church. Even so, there were in the fourteenth
century a few who doubted, and seemed to have better ideas. What
Galileo ended up showing was that the pre-thirteenth century church was on the
right track. I'm a physical scientist, but I am not pleased with the
bill of goods scientists sold the church in the thirteenth century.
I explain this whole matter in much more detail in the ASA's *Perspectives*,
September, 1994, page 178, in "The Galileo Incident."
Russ
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e-mail: rmaatman@dordt.edu Home address:
Russell Maatman 401 Fifth Ave. SE
Dordt College Sioux Center, Iowa 51250
Sioux Center, Iowa 51250 Home phone: (712) 722-0421