Galileo was condemned by the Inquisition, not for his own brilliant theories, but because

he stood up for his belief in Copernicus's theory that the earth was not, as the Church insisted, the

center of the universe, but that rather, the universe is heliocentric. Galileo was a man of

tremendous intellect and imagination living in a era dominated by the Catholic Church, which

attempted to control the people by dictating their own version of "reality." Any person who

publicly questioned Church doctrine ran the chance of condemnation and punishment. If man

could think, man could question, and the Church could lose its authority over the masses. This

could not be tolerated in the 17th century, when the Church had the power to dictate "reality."

Copernicus probably avoided a similar fate by confining his opinions to his students and the

university milieu, and in fact his theories were not published until the time of his death.

To be tried by the Inquisition was something that nobody could take lightly. Although in

Galileo's time the Inquisition was becoming more and more lenient, it was known to have used

torture in the past and to have sent many heretics to bu

with him. Years later, Cardinal Barberini became Pope Urban VIII and turned against Galileo,

had entered into a bitter dispute. Father Scheiner had communicated his opinions on his

that added to his lasting glory; many antagonized people of his time and turned many of them into

Scheiner could not read and had to have translated, while Scheiner had not written in his native

Galileo decided that the time had come to explain his views on the relations between

to avoid direct criticism, Scheiner wrote under a pen name. Mark Welser published Scheiner's

Some common words found in the essay are:
Catholic Church, Grand Duke, Grand Duke's, Jesuit Jesuits, Duchess Cristina, GALILEO Galileo, Sunspots Church, God Inquisition, Bodies Galileo's, Castelli Cristina, floating bodies, grand duke, discourse floating bodies, grand duke's, copernicus's theory, catholic church, question church, grand duchess, letter castelli, discourse floating, cardinal barberini,
Approximate Word count = 1455
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)