Is the earth at the center of the solar system?

Copernicus created a mathematical model that explained how the sun was at the center of the solar system, rather than the earth. Galileo was a strong advocate of the theory, resulting in a historic clash between science and the Catholic Church.

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If you believe B then possibly you believe A

Should the Bible be interpreted literally?

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Agree

Ambiguous or Flip-Flop

Experts In Religion

The Catholic Church Largest Christian Church

Agree

That the earth is neither the center of the world nor motionless but moves even with diurnal motion is philosophically equally absurd and false, and theologically at least erroneous in the Faith.

The Common Sense Pitch The God Said Pitch

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22 Jun 1633 Source

The Catholic Church Largest Christian Church

Disagree

Thanks to his intuition as a brilliant physicist and by relying on different arguments, Galileo, who practically invented the experimental method, understood why only the sun could function as the centre of the world, as it was then known, that is to say, as a planetary system. The error of the theologians of the time, when they maintained the centrality of the earth, was to think that our understanding of the physical world's structure was, in some way, imposed by the literal sense of [Bible].

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04 Nov 1992 Source

Sub-Arguments Of This Expert:
Should the Bible be interpreted literally?
Disagree

Disagree

Experts In Science

Galileo Galilei Father of Science

Disagree

I support the position [that the Sun is at the center of the solar system] not only by refuting the arguments of Ptolemy and Aristotle, but by producing many counter-arguments; in particular, some which relate to physical effects whose causes can perhaps be assigned in no other way. In addition there are astronomical arguments derived from many things in my new celestial discoveries that plainly confute the Ptolemaic system while admirably agreeing with and confirming the contrary hypothesis.

The Overwhelming Evidence Pitch

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01 Jan 1615 Source

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1 Point Adam Atlas 26 Apr 2010 Editorial Comment

I don't think it's fair to the Catholic Church to keep them on the Agree side, as they've changed their position since then. The speech from John Paul II in which he explained this is here.

A good quote to use might be "Thanks to his intuition as a brilliant physicist and by relying on different arguments, Galileo, who practically invented the experimental method, understood why only the sun could function as the centre of the world, as it was then known, that is to say, as a planetary system. The error of the theologians of the time, when they maintained the centrality of the earth, was to think that our understanding of the physical world's structure was, in some way, imposed by the literal sense of Sacred Scripture." Should we attribute that to "The Catholic Church" or to John Paul II himself, though?

0 Points Benja 26 Apr 2010 Editorial Comment

You're quite right - I added the quote you found. The Catholic Church's position is now a flip-flop - even though it took several hundred years for the flip-flop to occur!

For simplicity, I often attribute statements from the heads of companies or organizations, when they're clearly speaking on behalf of their organization, as a statement from the company or organization itself. So for example, currently all statements from the pope are attributed as statements from the Catholic Church. At a later stage, if it proves to be worthwhile, I'll add the capability of storing the person and the organization(s) they're affiliated with separately.