Myths about the War of "Religion vs. Science" (Galileo, flat earth, evolution, 'Dark Ages,' etc.)

First, to be clear the purpose of this post is NOT to debate whether religion and science have ever clashed. There are times when they obviously have.  The purpose is to correct erroneous myths and legends that have been used to advance the "ignorant, superstitious "Dark Ages vs. the rational modernists," and the "religion vs. science" Post-Enlightenment narratives that are so ingrained in modern society today. And while there is *some* truth to it, in many ways it is a false dichotomy. Real life (and history) is almost always far more messy and complicated than simple "Bad Guys vs. Good Guys" stories would have us believe. But everyone loves an underdog story. They love to get outraged at injustice on the little guy. And let's be honest, it makes for a more exciting, interesting story. Which is why so many Hollywood renditions are "based on" or "inspired"  by actual events, rather than the actual events. 

But some of the most well-known "facts" presented in science classes are myths and legends that just keep getting retold generation after generation.

Let's start with probably the most popular: The Galileo Myth that the Catholic Church "science deniers" refused to look through Galileo's telescope (they actually did and financed a lot of his work), and that they stubbornly refused to accept the triumph of facts and science and reason over their religious superstition, and persecuted Galileo. Thus, forever turning Galileo into a martyr for science and poster boy for Post-Enlightenment values vs. the tyrannical, ignorant church.

* The truth is, Galileo was more like a scientist today would be if he/she went against Darwinism (with the difference that Darwinism has weathered the test of time). The Church accepted the prevailing scientific evidence of the time: the long standing 1,400 year geocentric view of Aristotle and Ptolemy that the earth was at the center and that the planets and sun orbited the earth. The bottom line is that Galileo did not have the scientific evidence to prove Copernicus' heliocentric theory. He didn't have enough scientific evidence to even show the earth moved (the proof simply wasn't there yet, and paradigm shifts don't happen unless substantial evidence exists to overturn the prevailing, accepted view). Also, some of the "science" he used in support was actually wrong and unconvincing to other scientists. So it was not convincing to the Church either, which didn't just point to scripture, but also to what almost all the scientists of the day were saying. It would be like the church supporting scientists today for some accepted theory that centuries later turned out to be wrong. Today we would honor such affirmation, but change the narrative (and what actually happened) and you have an instant, more appealing "David (Science) vs. Goliath (Religious science deniers)" story that makes for great propaganda.

The truth is that with Galileo, the Catholic Church wasn't denying science, but affirming the consensus scientific position (geocentrism) of the day

To further kick off the discussion, here's some additional reading on the Galileo Myth and similar myths like it (note: a couple links are to Catholic sources. For the record, I'm not Catholic, but I liked their succinct presentation, so chose to include):

Debunking the Galileo myth & other myths

UCLA- The-truth-about-galileo-and-his-conflict-with-the-catholic-church

The enduring Galileo myth

Everything your friends know about Galileo is wrong

Forbes- Galileo and the myth that won't go away

@stephen_33 

We should probably migrate the discussion off of @TruthMuse's meme post.

I've never heard of that. The threat of torture, sure, but stopped short of torture *because* he was an old man. And into submission? Submission to what specifically? The church was fine with calling heliocentrism a hypothesis. And they were right, there wasn't enough scientific evidence to prove it yet. There was also no 20 year trial. I think it was more like half a day and ended in house arrest for "suspicion of heresy." And my understanding is that it was more that Galileo had lied or gone back on his word. He had agreed not to espouse heliocentrism and went back on his word. 

@stephen_33,

Here's another interesting article to add to the one's above

What-the-story-of-galileo-gets-wrong-about-church-and-science

Was there injustice? It certainly seems so. But was it because of science denialism? No. It seems it was more due to power and politics combined with Galileo's abrasive non-diplomatic style pissing off the wrong people. It wasn't science denialism. The science of the day didn't support heliocentrism. And according to this article, Jesuit priests had already confirmed and accepted Galileo's observations about moons orbiting Jupiter and Venus orbiting the sun, which was not incompatible with Tycho Brahe.

Galileo was arrogant, didn't suffer fools gladly and viewed his intellectual inferiors with disdain.

But he was also quite brilliant and probably deserved the description of genius.

It is a fact that the Holy Inquisition set out to terrorise him into silence, at least regarding his support of Heliocentrism and he spent the remaining years of his life under house arrest. This was done because the model of the solar system he promoted directly contradicted scripture and that wasn't to be tolerated by the Catholic authorities of the day.

In what way do you believe it contradicts Scripture?

I don't spend time reading the OT so I have no opinion but the Catholic church authorities of Galileo's time certainly believed his statements regarding Heliocentrism were in direct opposition to their understanding of scripture.

That's why they finally denounced him as a heretic.

   Catholicism is very fond of pronouncing heresies and heretics. Always has been. 
   And it's understanding of Scripture has always been sketchy at best.

To be totally honest, the myth that the church taught flat earth is basically unsupported by the evidence.

That's true and it's also a myth that most people believed it in past centuries - they didn't.

Right, that the Earth 🌎 is a globe was already known for over a thousand years