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NEWS > SCIENCE > CATHOLIC CHURCH FINALLY BURIES COPERNICUS, SUN BEGINS REVOLVING AROUND EARTH
CATHOLIC CHURCH FINALLY BURIES COPERNICUS, SUN BEGINS REVOLVING AROUND EARTH
May 26 2010
Warsaw, Poland – The conflict between religion and science goes back as far as the two disciplines themselves. For centuries, religion held sway over the hearts and minds of the populace, ruling with unchallenged control. Even political structures were
manipulated by the power of the religious hierarchy due in large part to its sway over the populace. Naturally when something came along that would challenge that power, the Church would do whatever it could to minimize or even eliminate the threat, as they have with science. Science though has fought back, pushing the two into conflict.
Perhaps the best known conflict between religion and science was the case of Nicolaus Copernicus, the famed astronomer and polymath. His assertion that the Earth revolved around the Sun changed science forever, sparking the scientific revolution and forever altering the power of the field. Religion too changed, as one of the principle beliefs of the Christian hierarchy asserted that the Universe revolved around the Earth. To be proven incorrect on such a fundamental issue was seen as damning for the theocracy which resulted in the outrage and the ignominy of an unmarked grave. Copernicus though proved bigger than the death and Church and his ideas propagated, changing the world forever. Now nearly 500 years after his death the Polish church has seen fit to exhume his body and give him a proper burial, forever putting an end to the feud and assuring themselves that the earth does indeed revolve around the sun once again.
“Today's funeral has symbolic value in that it is a gesture of reconciliation between science and faith. Science and faith can be reconciled. We are proud that his hard work, devotion and above all of his scientific genius,” said local bishop Jacek Jezierski. “We can finally end this feud between our two disciplines and honour the man for his life, the life that God gave to him. This also marks the beginning of a new sort of revolution, one that will see the world finally recognize the truth about the Universe that God created for us to inhabit.”
In 1992 the church also made peace with Galileo Galilei, rehabilitating him in the eyes of the church and destroying all telescopes in proximity of the Vatican.
“Obviously doing something like this is simply a gesture, a formality rather than a real peace making. Of course Copernicus died shortly after publishing ‘De revolutionibus orbium coelestium’ and didn’t have to suffer the same kind of persecution that Galileo did. What happened to his body wouldn’t have affected him that much, being dead and all,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “He was really a revolutionary and deserves the acclaim that he has been given. He didn’t just change the science of the world, he changed the way in which we looked at science. That intellectual leap and that willingness to go against the grain is what was really important about his work. That was the real revolution and the world has never been the same since.”
It’s not clear if the church will look to change scientific texts or simply start rounding up intellectuals and doing away with them.
“It’s debatable as to whether or not it’s even possible to put this genie back in the bottle. We watch the sun rise and fall and we see the stars and moon move around us so there will certainly be people who will buy into the notion that the earth is the centre of the Universe but the knowledge is out there and there may be now bottling it again,” continued Poe. “Of course if science has been lying to us this whole time and religion was right all along all they would need to do is prove that and they will have won. It would be a hard battle but now that they have put this particular grudge behind them, I guess forgiveness can take a long time, they may finally have the wherewithal to make this happen.”
Across Poland schools have already begun destroying globes.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
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