Re: The Need for Debate

Ray Brown scripsit:

> Galileo's problem was that he was born during the Reformation when debate
> on both sides of the religious divide was not exactly encouraged.
> Dissenting in Calvin's Geneva was at least as dangerous as dissenting in
> Catholic Rome.
His other problem was that he was a lifelong flamer, a troll, and
a net.assassin of the very worst kind, and probably had a profitable
sideline selling the Italian edition of "How to Lose Friends and Alienate
People".  He had the regrettable habit of calling a spade a God-damned
shovel, even when it was being wielded by a Prince (of the Church or the
State, it hardly mattered).  As a result of having cheesed off everyone in
Italy, he was brought up on charges of making the Pope look like a fool
(which he had unquestionably done), was shown the instruments of torture
(but they were never used on him), and was told to go home and stay there,
which he duly did.

> >There's also often the problem of
> >perspective: for instance, the "barbarians" (Goths, Vandals etc) who
> >eroded the roman empire near the end. Were they really that bad? Was
> >there nothing important that was good to say about them?
>
> Yes, particularly the Goths.
The reason the Goths took over the Western Roman Empire (basically just
Italy at this point) was to protect the remaining glories of Roman civilization
from the real thugs, like the Franks and the Bulgars.

--
Here lies the Christian,                        John Cowan
        judge, and poet Peter,                  http://www.reutershealth.com
Who broke the laws of God                       http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
        and man and metre.                      jcowan@reutershealth.com