Martin Luther Quotes
People give ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens of the firmament, the sun and the moon. This fool wishes to reverse the entire scheme of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, not the earth
Martin Luther, 1483-1546, German Theologian & Founder of Protestantism, Table Talk, ~ 1540
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The Church no longer believes this of course. Having learned from this unfortunate experience and Galileo’s persecution, today the Roman Catholic Church is one of the more advanced religious institutions in accepting modern science.
Note that Da Vinci predated Galileo. One big difference was that Da Vinci did not publish his heretical views, but wrote them in his private notebook. The church authorities likely did not know about his heresy.
While critics of Islam cite this sura to show how absurd the Koran can be and contradicts what is known about the Earth’s orbit, few sophisticated, moderate Muslims believe this. However, even in the United States there are many Christians and Orthodox Jews who not only deny Evolution but also believe the Earth is 6000 years old. The basic difference is that in Islamic countries publicly critiquing such anti-scientific theological statements is rare and an individual who publicly argues against the Koran taken literally is often in danger from state or private retribution. In the West the conflict between the Bible and known science is not only publicly commented upon but in a somewhat derisive way. However, consider this: Islam is about 1500 years old. When Christianity was the same age, Galileo was tried and convicted by the Catholic Church for denying this very statement. Perhaps in another 700 years Muslims will look back with embarrassment on this as most of Christianity does.
The Roman Catholic Church had stultified scientific thinking for over a thousand years where differing with accepted church doctrine was not only discouraged but was dangerous. Even though Hicletas—see {590328}—realized that the earth rotated around its own axis three centuries before Christ, and his view was in the literature to which learned people had access, even in 1543 Copernicus had to tread lightly with the church. He enlisted the aid of the Pope to “response block” the opposition of other church authorities. Galileo later did not play politics and had a more narrow minded Pope and Vatican to contend with, and as the world knows, came into unfortunate conflict with the Church.
Martin Luther, O.S.A. was a German professor of theology, priest, author, composer, Augustinian monk, and a seminal figure in the Reformation. Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. He came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church; in particular, he disputed the view on indulgences. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor.
