At one time, religious authority declared that the earth is the center of the Universe and that the Sun, the Moon, the planets and all the stars revolved around it. This had the authority of the Church.

And to disagree with the Church was heresy. And heresy was punishable by hanging or being burned at the stake in an auto de fé (literally, "Act of Faith"). A public execution. As an example and a warning to any would-be heretics.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the Polish astronomer, formulated the idea that the universe was not geocentric, but heliocentric. Everything, including the earth, revolved around the sun. This explained the motion of the planets, which did not fit the geocentric mold, earning them the name "planet," which means "wanderer." The Church had a wall-eyed hissy-fit, but autos de fé were not as big in Poland as they were in Spain and Italy. Also, Pope Clement VII found the theory "interesting."

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), a century later, also found the theory interesting, and turned his improved telescope (a device normally used for spotting ships at sea) on the skies, first, the moon, and discovered that there were mountains, valleys, and other "earthlike" features there, and concluded that the moon, rather than being a perfect crystal sphere (it was in the Heavens, after all), was a world, quite like the earth (the smooth plains he took to be seas, hence mare).

He then turned his telescope on Jupiter, and among other fascinating features, he noted that there were four worlds orbiting around it! They were orbiting around it like Copernicus said the earth was orbiting around the Sun! He also discovered that Venus had phases much like the moon, so the Heavens were NOT, perfect, permanent, and unchanging!

This caused much controversy, and because Pope Urban VIII did NOT find it interesting, eventually Galileo was brought before the Inquisition and given the opportunity to choose between recanting and denying what he had seen with his own eyes (and other astronomers were verifying his observations, but discretely keeping their mouths shut) or attending his own barbecue! Galileo chose not to be a martyr and recanted, thus saving his own life, but he knew that history would prove him right in the long run.

Which it did! In spades!

The University of Washington has a small observatory just inside the north entrance to campus. The seeing is not great there due to all the light pollution from the University business district just a few blocks away, but on a clear night it's passable for the use of students taking astronomy classes.

Fulfilling my science requirements, I took a couple of astronomy classes in the mid-1950s. One evening, a couple of spectacular planets were clearly visible, and the prof had the class convene that evening in the observatory. Saturn was beautiful! Rings clearly visible. And then we turned the 60-power refracting telescope on Jupiter. Everybody ooh-ed and ah-ed as they took their turn at the eyepiece.

Then my turn came. It was, indeed, spectacular! It's one thing to look at photographs of the planet, and these days, with photos taken in close space-probe fly-bys, one can see a great deal of detail, which we couldn't see nearly as well back in the Fifties.

As I looked, I notice a small orb near Jupiter. Then another. Then, two more. Four altogether. "Aha!" I hooted! I called the prof's attention to them. He looked for several seconds, then said, "The sharp-eyed Mr. Firth has just duplicated Galileo's discovery. He's spotted the four Galilean moons!" And he had the class all take another look.

I've seen with my own eyes. And I don't have to demand that you take it on faith. I can put a telescope into your hands and say, "Look for yourself!"

The Church—the Christian Church—said one thing. But observation—REPEATED (and repeatable) observation—said, and continues to say, something else. Eventually, the Church had to give way to Science, or simply look foolish.

In the same way, any church—or religion—that denies the massive amount of proof for the age of the Cosmos, and for evolution, will simply look foolish. And be dismissed as irrelevant.

Which would be too bad, because the Christian church (and other religions) DO have SOME good things to say. But they endanger those messages when some of their adherents insist on holding onto medieval and untenable beliefs.

Don Firth