I doubt if many of you have met Giordano Bruno. You may have heard of him. Bruno is listed as "a martyr of science". This poor man, a Dominican friar, was put to death by the Roman Inquisition in 1600 (which is why I'm pretty sure you haven't met him) for believing in science over religion. Modern commentators see him as a brave martyr for free thought and scientific ideas. Sigh! What a hero!
Of course, what is important in this is that you never actually consider the facts of the case over the interpretation.
As it turns out, Giordano Bruno was not put on trial for his heliocentrism. Instead, the Roman Catholic Church charged him with pantheism (which is strangely not a matter of "free thought" or "modern scientific ideas"), his denial of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, and other sundry religious views in violation of Catholic doctrine. Odd. Doesn't look like science had anything to do with it. Like the Flat Earth Myth and the whole Galileo thing, anti-Christians have concocted a false dilemma and demanded satisfaction for something that isn't true. Bruno wasn't executed on a "religion vs science" contest. He was put to death for his religious assault on the Church. So while all the anti-theists are pointing and complaining about Christianity and praising heroes like Cosmos' Neil DeGrasse Tyson, they're missing completely the fact that it's a lie.
So why do opponents of Christianity make up stories about Galileo, Bruno, or the like that aim at ridiculing and insulting God and His Church? Oh, that's easy. "Claiming to be wise, they became fools" (Rom 1:22), "for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God" (Rom 8:7). It is, therefore, what would be expected. I suppose that's one reason we are told to "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess 5:21).
4 comments:
Of course putting him to death was not very Christ-like. One of those problems Rome has had for over 1000 years; disagree with them and you die.
I suppose that's why so few ever picked up on the problem. Embarrassed by the fact that he was put to death (in a markedly different era), too many never bothered to check the facts of why he was put to death when they claimed it was for science.
(By the way, the notion was not "disagree and die". The thinking was that heresy could kill eternally -- a kind of extreme disease control, so to speak. Not necessarily right, but not arbitrary either.)
I know what the thinking was, but they had no biblical support for it. Nowhere did Christ or the Apostles even hint at execution for heresy. But Rome never let the Bible stand in the way of anything they taught.
I deal with this stuff all summer long with our street ministry by the university of Iowa - the atheists/skeptics always bring up the Inquisition and I have to explain how unbiblical it was, and to not blame Christians for what that organization did.
No, no biblical support. And, yes, it is a constant, "But ... how can it be 'Christian' if it is in violation of Christ?" for me, too.
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