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Christianity vs. Astronomy
Christianity Versus Astronomy:

[Introduction:]

Copernicus (1473-1543) enraged the Church by writing that the Earth might orbit the Sun. Christian theology holds that the great scheme of God revolves around Humankind; God's only son is a human, God created the Earth and all other animals for Mankind (Genesis 1:28 etc), and the destruction of creation centres around events occurring on planet Earth, to Humans. It was deeply challenging to Christians to face the facts that the Earth wasn't the centre of the universe. Also challenging were other basic facts of astrology; that the universe is massive, the Earth only one of many planets, and the likely fact that there is life elsewhere in the universe too.

[... Conclusion reads:]

Scientists had to suffer torture, silencing, imprisonment and death at the hands of Christians who didn't agree with newly discovered facts about the world. Christianity lost the first battle with astronomers who realized that, contrary to what Christians asserted, the Sun did not orbit the Earth, and that the Universe doesn't seem to be designed specifically for humankind. Copernicus (1473-1543), Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo (1564-1642), Newton (1643-1727) and Laplace (1749-1827) all fought battles against the Church when they published scientific papers challenging religious orthodoxy. Bible verses were all the theories Christians needed; and Joshua 10:12-13, 2 Kings 20:11, Isaiah 38:8 and Isaiah 30:26 all contradicted astronomers. But through intelligence and clever politics, truth gradually won out over dogma, and the Church retreated... only to go on to fight similar ignorant battles, and violently impose dogmatic errors, in the arenas of physics, biology and philosophy.

Without such interference from theists, science would have been more than a thousand years more advanced! Kepler in the 17th century only revived Greek astronomical knowledge that was condemned and hidden by Christians (Ptolemy et al) in the second century.

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tangyapple From: [info]tangyapple Date: December 4th, 2006 06:11 pm (UTC) (Link)
Hi. Thought you might like today's freethought quotes here:

http://ffrf.org/day/

:)
From: (Anonymous) Date: August 15th, 2007 05:57 am (UTC) (Link)

Psalm 93

Psalm 93 where it says 'The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved' doesn't mean that the world is the center of the universe. If you read the rest of Psalm 93, it salks about the lords statues standing strong, etc... This means either: the world cannot be destroyed or Christianity cannot be wiped out.
And Joshua 10:12-13, 2 Kings 20:11, Isaiah 38:8 and Isaiah 30:26, are all miracles. Not one verse in the bible tells us that the Earth is in the center of the universe

and also about the part where you wrote 'Christian Ego and Pride: Science is Humbling'

First of all, Christians beleive that the Earth is 6000 to 7000 years old. 14 Billion years is absolout rubbish. Carbon Dating has been disproved many times.

please reply
u3190 From: [info]u3190 Date: August 15th, 2007 05:59 am (UTC) (Link)

Psalm 93

Psalm 93 where it says 'The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved' doesn't mean that the world is the center of the universe. If you read the rest of Psalm 93, it talks about the lords statues standing strong, etc... This means either: the world cannot be destroyed or Christianity cannot be wiped out.
And Joshua 10:12-13, 2 Kings 20:11, Isaiah 38:8 and Isaiah 30:26, are all miracles. Not one verse in the bible tells us that the Earth is in the center of the universe

And also about the part where you wrote 'Christian Ego and Pride: Science is Humbling':

First of all, Christians beleive that the Earth is 6000 to 7000 years old. 14 Billion years is absolout rubbish. Carbon Dating has been disproved many times.


vexen From: [info]vexen Date: August 17th, 2007 04:21 pm (UTC) (Link)

Re: Psalm 93

1. The Hebrew word is more correctly stated (as I did) as 'stablished' which means "stabilized", like you do to a boat at sea. There is no single word that can be used in its place - "established" is only half way there. As the authors of the Psalms would have believed, like they did at the time, that the world floated on a great ocean, it means that God had stopped the Earth from floating when he 'stablished' it during its creation.

2. Carbon dating is only one method of dating things over the very long scale, based on the decay of carbon isotopes. It is not 'disproved'. In addition, though, there are many other ways at dating the Earth, and none of them have to the conclusion that the Earth is only 6000-7000 years old. The Egyptians and Aztecs who had flourishing civilisations and histories older than that, would surely disagree! You are placing the date of creation way inside known history.

Look at the history of religions like Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, at sciences like geology.
u3190 From: [info]u3190 Date: March 7th, 2008 10:50 am (UTC) (Link)

Re: Dating Methods

Carbon dating has not been disproved but it is very unreliable as follows:

If there was a sink full of water, and a tap was dripping into it at lets say, 50mL per hour, how long do you think it has been dripping for?
Assumption 1: It has been dripping at a constant rate.
Assumption 2: There is no leakage
Assumption 3: There was no water in there to begin with.

These are all assumptions that apply to dating which can make it very inaccurate
From: (Anonymous) Date: April 16th, 2008 08:54 am (UTC) (Link)

Religion versus Astronomy

Ok, let's calm down. Galilieo and Isaac Newton were both practising and beleiving Christians, namely individuals who beleived that Jesus Christ is The Son of God. As starnge as this is going to sound, it was thier reading of the bible that informed their work and led them to beleiving what they did about the universe. The bible states that the earth is round and nowhere does it say that the sun goes around the earth. This was an idea propagated by ignorant men in the roman catholic church.

State religion, or organised religion has always tried to control peoples thinking for it's own vicious ends. Please people, being men of faith, like both Newton and Galileo, will always lead you to searching for the truth. Doing this will often put you in opposition with Religious people and authorities.
From: (Anonymous) Date: April 16th, 2008 09:05 am (UTC) (Link)

Religion versus Astronomy

Ok, let's calm down. Galilieo and Isaac Newton were both practising and beleiving Christians, namely individuals who beleived that Jesus Christ is The Son of God. As starnge as this is going to sound, it was thier reading of the bible that informed their work and led them to beleiving what they did about the universe. The bible states that the earth is round and nowhere does it say that the sun goes around the earth. This was an idea propagated by ignorant men in the roman catholic church.

State religion, or organised religion has always tried to control peoples thinking for it's own vicious ends. Please people, being men of faith, like both Newton and Galileo, will always lead you to searching for the truth. Doing this will often put you in opposition with Religious people and authorities.
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