Re: Review of Breaking the Spell

On 11 Mar 2006 20:05:33 -0800, "WestJakal86" <Seanw8604@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Bullshitso CHRIS!! Name another scientist that was persecuted by the
church!

The only bull*** was your transparent lie that the "intellectual
freedom you are using on this forum was made possible by the Catholic
Church".

A Viking named Raud the strong.
Roger Bacon.
Dr. Wertt of Hamburg.
Bruno.
Copernicus.
Kepler.

Get an education and learn some history. You fool nobody but yourself.

Here's a start. Originally posted by Greg Aharonian in sci.physics in
1993, and reposted fairly regularly to refute ignoramuses (ignorami?)
like you who are in denial or make false claims.

It describes both Catholic and Protestant behaviour towards science,
knowledge and scientists.

Giving the lie to your bull***. Heck, it was only in our own lifetime
they admitted their mistake over Galileo.

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#40's
#The Apostle Paul misinterprets a profound mathematical theorem
In a letter to a Greek church, the apostle Paul gets tough with
false preachers, instructing in the Book of Titus, section 1, verses
10-14

"For there are many insubordinate men, empty talkers and
deceivers, especially the circumcision party; they must be silenced,
since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for base gain what
they have no right to teach. ONE OF THEMSELVES, A PROPHET OF THEIR
OWN, SAID "CRETANS ARE ALWAYS LIARS, EVIL BEASTS, LAZY GLUTTONS".
This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, instead of
giving heed to Jewish myths or to commands of men who reject the
truth".

Here, Paul misinterprets one of mathematics most famous thinkers,
Epimemides, a Cretan whose statement "All Cretans are liars", a simple
way of illustrating the difficulties of dealing with self-reference in
formal descriptive systems, still is the subject of much thought two
thousand years later. An insight mathematicans consider beautiful is
use to encourage intolerance.
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#300
#Noted Catholic Bishops declare science to be of no interest to
Christians
The attitude of most of the Church Fathers towards science,
however, was one of indifference or hostility. Bishop Eusebius, the
noted historian of the early Christian Church, says of scientists: "It
is not through ignorance of the things admired by them, but through
contempt of their useless labor, that we think little of these
matters, turning our souls to better things". Basil of Caesarea
declares it "a matter of no interest to us whether the earth is a
sphere or a cylinder or a disk, or concave like a fan". Lactantius
calls the study of astronomy "bad and senseless". Like many other
churchmen, he combats the pagan Greek notion that the earth is round
and argues on scriptual grounds that it must be flat.
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#415
#Augustine writes that science, and also miracles, should not be
studied
In his "De Civitate Dei", Saint Augustine accounts for much of
Western knowledge on experimental effects due to magnets, that magnets
move iron, not straw. He describes, as had Plato, how a number of
iron rings may be suspended in a chain from a loadstone as if the
magnet "had communicated its own property to the iron it attracted,
and had made it a substance like itself", and a few other properties.
Without pursuing such matters further, Augustine proceeds instead
to make use of them for his larger purposes. If such common phenomena
are inexplicable, he asked, why should it be demanded of man that he
explains miracles by human reason?
[American Journal of Physics 5/53, 350]
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#440
#Saint Patrick is falsely credited with eliminating snakes in Ireland
Saint Patrick is credited with driving snakes out of Ireland.
However pre-Patrick writers mention the fact that Ireland is free of
reptiles. For example, two hundred years earlier, Solinus writes that
Ireland is a place well-noted for its snakelessness.
Conventional explanations use the most recent Ice age, where the
flora and fauna of the British Isles were eliminated by advancing
galciers and the cold. As the glaciers recede, the animals and plants
come creeping back, migrating from the continent thru Britain to
Ireland. For awhile Britain and Ireland are connected to Europe by
dry land, so that animals could make the migration, at least to
Britain. However, as the ice continues to melt, Britain and Ireland
become islands, halting the migration of the snakes already
established in England. Only the quicker lizard makes it to Ireland.
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#500-1000
#People mistake bioluminescence for spirits in shallow graveyards
Throughout the Dark Ages, unsanitary disposal of dead bodies leads
to mistaken observation of spirits. At the onset of the Dark Ages,
with disease decimating Europe, unwrapped bodies lie in shallow graves
where vaporous decomposition products, acted on by microorganisms,
become bioluminescent. Casual observers, passing at a distance, see
glowing 'spirits' hovering in the graveyard, which to the ignorant are
interpreted as souls and ghosts.
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#529
#Blasphemy laws attribute natural disasters to God's punishment
In Justinian's codification of the laws, the Corpus Juris Civilis,
which greatly influenced legal developments in Europe, the provision
on blasphemy alleges that "famine, earthquake, and pestilence" occur
because the failure to punish blasphemy "provokes God's wrath".
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#535
#Christian monk declares that the world is a flat parallelogram
A Christian monk, Cosmas, writes a book entitled "Christian
Topograph". In this book, basing himself upon the direct meaning of
Biblical texts as construed by him in a literal fashion, he denies the
existence of the antipodes (North and South poles), and asserts that
the world is a flat parallelogram whose length is double its breadth.
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#584
#Catholic bishops debate "Are Women Human?". The vote is 32 Yes, 31
No.
In Lyons France, forty three Catholic bishops and twenty men
representing other bishops hold a debate, "Are Women Human?". The
final vote is that thirty two men vote yes, thirty one vote no. (This
probably served as a precedence for the Oct 18, 1929 Canadian Supreme
Court decision that Canadian women were not persons in the legal sense
of the word).
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#1000
#Pope Sylvester II creates a talking head
Pope Sylvester II is alleged to have contrived a statue with a
talking head, cast after inspecting the stars when the planets were
about to begin their courses. The head, to quote William of
Malmesbury, "It spake not unless spoken to, but then pronounced the
truth, either in the affirmative or the negative." Pope Sylvester had
been educated by the Saracens in astrology, necromancy, and other
occult skills.
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#1000
#Christians kill Viking chieftain as a witch for sailing against the
wind
As late as 1000, sailing effectively against the wind in northern
European waters is so unusual that when a Viking chieftain named Raud
the Strong makes use of this method to escape from Olaf Trygvasson,
the bloodthirsty and fanatical Christianizing king of Norway, the King
is sure that Raud must be using witchcraft. This so enrages the pious
king that when he finally catches Raud, he has him killed by the
unusual method of suffering a viper down his throat.
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#1021
#Jews are tortured and burned in Rome for 'causing' an earthquake
An earthquake followed by a hurricane strikes Rome on Good Friday.
Pope Benedict VIII arrests a number of Jews who allegedly had put a
nail through a host on Holy Thursday, as the probable cause of the
calamity. They 'confess' during the torture of interrogation and are
burned.
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#1163
#A Church Council bans all surgery due to malpractice by priests and
monks
Church edicts against priests and monks entering and abusing the
practice of medicine and surgery grow more emphatic, and an edict of
the Council of Tours goes wide of its mark and officially casts
surgery into disrepute. The essence of this edict is "Ecclesia
abhorret a sanguine" - the Church abhors the shedding of blood. In
other words, surgery is not respectable.
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#1200's
#A book for midwifes is more concerned with the child than the mother
The Dominican monk, Albertus Magnus, writes a book for the
guidance of midwives, and the Church councils pass edicts on their
practices. These instructions and edicts, are not, however, for the
better care of the child-bearing woman for the relief of her
suffering, or the prevention of her death. After all, childbirth is
the result of a carnal sin to be expiated in pain as defined in
Genesis 3:16. The instructions are instead designed to
save the child's life for a sufficient time to allow it to be
baptized.
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#1242
#Roger Bacon is imprisoned by the Church for experimenting in optics
Roger Bacon, a pioneering physicist, starts experiments in optics
based on the writings of the Arab scientists Ibn Haitham. The
Catholic church responds to his activities with a sentence of
imprisonment, admonished by
"Your writings bespeak strange thoughts. Let thee not forget
that learning and devotion to books hath often led men away
from the Tree of Life and unto the fiery Depths of Hell and
Torture."
As part of his defense against accusations of witchcraft, Bacon
discloses his formula for gunpowder.
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#1257
#The scientist Roger Bacon is prohibited by the Church from his
research
Bonaventura, General of the Franciscan order, suspicious of Roger
Bacon's supposed dealings in the black arts, interrupts his lectures
at Oxford, and places him under the superintendence of the Franciscan
order in Paris, where he remains for ten years under injunction not to
write for publication.
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#1260
#A Bishop in Germany is credited with building a talking, thinking,
robot
Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Ratisbon, is credited with building a
mechanical robot which could answer questions and solve problems. The
robot took thirty years to build. The robot once salutes one of
Magnus' students, Thomas Aquinas, who, convinced that this had
something to do with the devil, consigns the robot to the flame. In
spite of Magnus' reputation as a sorcerer, he is canonized.
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#1278
#The scientist Roger Bacon is imprisoned for 14 years
After the death of Clement IV, a friend of Roger Bacon, his books
are condemned by Jerome de Ascoli, General of the Franciscans, who
becomes Pope Nicholas IV, and Roger Bacon is put into prison for 14
years.
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#1300
#A misinterpreted Papal bull condemns surgery, halting progress in
medicine
A papal bull from Pope Boniface VIII is issued that
misinterpreted, leads to the detriment of anatomical study. In the
bull, the Pope decrees that whoever dares to cut up a human body or
boil it should fall under the ban of the Church. This edict is
intended to prohibit a practice of the crusaders, who, when one of
their number dies during the pilgrimage to the Holy Land,
cut up the body and boil it in order to obtain the bones, which can be
conveniently transported back to relatives in Europe.
The papal bull against this practice is misinterpreted as applying
to dissection for anatomical study. Surgeons are looked upon as
menials. Under the influence of the Church the practice of surgery in
Europe is relegated to barbers, bathhouse keepers, sowgelders,
executioners, and any strolling vagabond who cares to try his hand at
the art.
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#1300
#One of the most prolific writers on birth control becomes Pope John
XXII
Despite the church's position in favor of procreation, medieval
writers, many of whom were churchmen, related practical information
about contraceptives and early-term abortifacients. Indeed, one of
the prolific writers on birth control techniques was Peter of Spain,
author of "Treasury of the Poor", who becamse Pope John XXII.
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#1377, May 22
#Pope Gregory XI issues five bulls attacking doctrines for democracy
Pope Gregory XI issues five bulls attacking John Wycliffe's
doctrines as expounded in his treatise on civil lordship. "De Civili
Dominio", which had been read to Wycliffe's students at Oxford in the
previous year. In a 1382 Bible translation, Wycliffe included the
following dedication that reflected his views: "This Bible is for the
government of the people, by the people, and for the people".
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#1390's
#Archbishop of Usher calculates that the world began at 9am, Oct 23,
4004 BC
Archbishop Usher of England calculates that the world began at
9am, Sunday October 23, 4004 BC, according to the Bible. A long dead
scientist, Wycliffe, however had suggested that the world was at least
some hundredsof thousands of years old, based on geological evidence.
Unable to tolerate such an affront to his authority, Usher orders that
Wycliffe's bones bedug out, broken into pieces, and thrown into the
sea so that the germs of dissent and doubt would no longer contaminate
the earth.
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#1456
#Pope Calixtus attempts to excommunicate Halley's comet.
Pope Calixtus attempts to excommunicate Halley's comet.
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#1492
#Pope Innocent VIII dies during a blood tranfusion to make him
immortal
Pope Innocent VIII seeks a measure of immortality and finds death
instead, when he has the blood of three young men transfused into his
veins.
(More than four hundred years pass before it is realized that
incompatibility of blood proteins can sometimes cause fatal results
during transfusions.)
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#1500's
#Catholic priests declare a rat to be a fish, allowing Lenten meating
eating
The Roman Catholic Church can be a wonderfully flexible
organization. It demands abstinence from its adherents and then gives
them the means to evade it. A fine example is provided by the
capybara. Untutored modern eyes look at the capybara and see an
overgrown guinea pig. It is a big creature - at about 100 pounds it
wieghs in as the largest rodent around - but still looks basically
ratty. Some zoologists demur; they want to exclude
all guinea pigs from the order Rodentia and put them in a group of
their own.
However, the 16th century churchmen who accompanied the
conquistadoresinto the capybara's South American habitat were more
radical revisionists. They saw capybaras splashing around in rivers
and though "fish". There is no need to invoke bizarre Thomist
taxonomy or a change in man's outlook on nature to explain this
eccentric belief. Capybaras are good to eat. Those enduring their
annual 40 days in the gastronomic wilderness of Lent, eschewing
meat in favor of vegetables and fish, clutched at some pretty tenuous
taxonomic straws. That is how the capybara came to be, for religious
and dietary purposes, a fish. This notion has allowed a modicum of
lenten indulgence over the centuries, and is now a profitable little
sideline for Venezuelan ranchers.
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#1500's
#A priest states that God is against building a canal in Panama
In opposition to a proposal to build a canal through the Isthmus
of Panama to connect the Atlantic and Pacific, a priest by the name of
Acosta brings forward the following reason against it: "I am of
opinion that human power should not be allowed to cut through the
strong and impenetrable bounds which God has put between two oceans,
of mountains and iron rocks, which can stand the fury of the raging
seas. And, if it were possible, it would appear to me very just that
we should fear the vengeance of Heaven for attempting to improve that
which the Creator in His almighty will and providence has ordained
from the creation of the world".
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1520's
#Pope Leo X rejects science, when Leonardo da Vinci asks for support
Leonardo da Vinci travels to Rome to seek employment of his
engineering and science skills. Unfortunately Pope Leo X has no
interest in such matters. Quotes from the Pope include: "Since God has
given us the Papacy, let us enjoy it", and "What profit has not that
fable of Christ brought us".
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#1522
#A doctor is burned to death for trying to observe a woman giving
birth
One Dr. Wertt of Hamburg, puts on the dress of a woman to attend
and study a case of labor (men being prohibited from participating as
midwives). As a punishment for his impeity he is burned to death.
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#1551
#Catholic Council of Trent orders all scientific research halted
In 1551 the Papal Legates who are presiding over the Council of
Trent order: "That the Divines ought to confirm their opinions with
the holy Scripture, Traditions of the Apostles, sacred and approved
Councils, and by the Constitutions and Authorities of the holy
Fathers; that they ought to use brevity, and avoid superflous and
unprofitable questions, and perverse contentions....".
It is impossible not to feel sympathy with these Italian divines,
maintaining the lost cause of unbridled rationalism. They are
deserted on all hands. The Protestants were in full revolt against
them. The Papacy failed to support them, and the Bishops of the
Council could not even understand them.
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#1553
#Martin Luther condemns Copernicus for saying Earth revolves around
the Sun
Martin Luther, commenting on Copernicus' theory that the earth
revolves around the sun, states "..People give ear to an upstart
astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens
or the firmament, the sun and the moon. Whosoever wishes to appear
clever must devise some new system which of all systems, of course, is
the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of
astronomy; but Sacred Scripture tells us that Jushua commanded the sun
to stand still, and not the earth". Comments like these, and others
from church leaders, leads to Copernicus delaying publication of his
ideas, and pursuing further research.
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#1600, Feb 17
#Girodano Bruno is burned at the stake on orders from the Pope.
Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake on orders from the Pope. In
1584,Bruno had written a book advocating the Copernican view of the
universe,and how it applied to the difference between Protestants and
Catholics with regards to the Eucharist. His hopes were to unify the
Protestant English and Catholic French. Unfortunately, Rome supported
Spain and it's status quo position in Europe. After his arrest and
trial by the Inquisition, the Pope orders Bruno's execution.
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#1612
#Using the Bible, Colombe attacks Galileo and Copernicus
Lodovico delle Colombe, in his book "Against the Motion of the
Earth", attacks Galileo and Copernicus, citing texts from the Bible.
These passages include Joshua commanding the sun to stop, and Psalms
103:5, that God "fixed the earth upon its foundations, not to be moved
forever".
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#1614, Dec 20
#A Dominican priest preaches sermons condemning Galileo's moving Earth
ideas
Father Tommaso Caccini, a Dominican Father, preaches a sermon in
which he strongly condemns the idea of a moving earth being proposed
by Galileo.
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#1616, Feb 23
#The Vatican censures Galileo for his scientific beliefs about a
moving Earth
Catholic bishops in the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office
issue censures to Galileo on his beliefs. With regards to one
propositions, that the sun is the center of the world and completely
immovable by local motion, they state "The first proposition was
declared unanimously to be foolish and absurd in philosophy and
formally heretical inasmuch as it expressly contradicts the doctrine
of Holy Scripture in many passages, both in their literal meaning and
according to the general interpretation of the Fathers and Doctors".
With regards to a second proposition, that the earth is not the center
of the world, nor immovable, but moves according to the whole of
itself, and also with a diurnal motion, the bishops state "All were
agreed that this proposition merits the same censure in philosophy,
and that from a theological standpoint, it is at least erroneous in
the faith."
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#1616, April
#The Vatican condemns a book supporting Copernician theory with the
Bible
The Catholic Congregation of the Index condemns a book by a friar,
Paolo Antonio Foscarini, in which he attempts to show that the
Copernician system is not contrary to Holy Scripture.
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#1620
#Johannes Kepler defends his mother, who had been imprisoned as a
witch
Johannes Kepler defends his mother in Tubingen, who had been
imprisoned as a witch.
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#1629
#Pope Urban VIII hires a Dominican monk to perform anti-eclipse magic
Pope Urban VIII hires a Dominican monk, Thomas Campanella, to
perform antieclipse magic. Astrologers hostile to the Pope had
predicted that the Pope's death would occur on the solar eclipse of
June 1628 or December 1630. In response, and due to his belief in
astrology, Pope Urban hires Campanella. In 1600, Martin del Rio, a
Jesuit, had publicly expressed an opinion of the Catholic Church, in
which many forms of magic, including astrology, are condemned.
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#1633, June 16
#Pope Urban VIII officially condemns Galileo and his scientific ideas
Pope Urban VIII officially condemns Galileo. "His Holiness decreed
that the said Galileo is to be interrogated with regard to his
intention, even with the threat of torture, and if he sustains [that
is, answers in a satisfactory manner, he is to abjure 'de vehementi'
(i.e. vehement suspicion of heresy] is a plenary assembly of the
Congregation of the Holy Office, then is to be condemned to
imprisonment as the Holy Congregation thinks best, and ordered not to
treat further, in any way at all, either verbally or in writing, of
the mobility of the earth and the stability of the sun; otherwise
he will incur the penalties for relapse. The book entitled 'Dialogo di
Galileo Galilei Linceo' is to be prohibited."
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#1642
#A Catholic priest destroys the manuscripts of Galileo after his death
On Galileo's death, his common-law wife submits his manuscripts on
telescopic and pendulum inventions to her Catholic confessor, who
subsequently destroys them as heretical.
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#1665
#Rene Descartes' book supporting Copernicus is banned by the Vatican
Through the influence of Jesuits, Rene Descartes' work is placed
on the Index Liborum Prohibitorum, his "Les Meditations
Metaphysiques". In his book, Descartes supported Copernicus's
hypothesis of the earth revolving around the sun. This view opposed
the church's Aristolean system.
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#1668
#Book IX of Francis Bacon's "Advancement of Learning" is banned by
Vatican
Book IX of Francis Bacon's "Advancement of Learning" is banned and
placed on the Roman Catholic Church's Index Expurgatorius.
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#1752
#Denis Diderot's "Encyclopedia" of all knowledge is banned by the
Vatican
Denis Diderot starts having published the first few volumes of his
"Encyclopedia" of all knowledge. Part of his philosophy behind this
work is that by spreading knowledge, industry will be encouraged,
which will lead to peace, and a new morality independent of the
Church. In response, the Catholic Church has the first few volumes
suppressed, and in 1804 has the entire collection banned.
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#1755, November
#Clergy in Lisbon explain a deadly earthquake as punishment from God
On All Saints' Day, a strong earthquake strikes Lisbon, killing
30,000 people, including many people in churches. Shortly thereafter,
the French clergy try to explain the disaster as punishment from God
for the sins of the people of Lisbon.
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#1829, July 2
#Forgeries by a priest cause a scandal and lead to Galois' father's
suicide
The father of Evariste Galois commits suicide. Earlier, the Jesuit
priest of Bourg-la-Reine had forged Mayor's Galois's name to a number
of malicious epigrams directed at Galois's own relatives. Unable to
cope with the scandal caused by the Jesuit priest, his father commits
suicide. At the time, the Jesuits were the leaders of right-wing
forces in France after the era of Napolean.
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#1847
#The clergy in Scotland fight the use of anesthetic drugs for
childbirth
In response to complete opposition and fiery condemnations of the
clergy of Scotland, Sir James Simpson publishes a paper defending the
use of anesthetic agents in midwifery. The clergy had long opposed as
heresy such aid to women in labor, citing Biblical references. Unlike
Agnes Sampson, who was burned in 1591 for providing similar aid,
Simpson silences the clergy by refuting all supposed Biblical
injunctions to let women suffer through childbirth.
Part of his paper cites the many cases of church opposition to
human innovation. He cites an example of the attempted frustration of
advancement in the field of agriculture. There had been strong
opposition to the introduction of the winnowing machine which
separates chaff from grain. This process had been carried out formerly
by throwing gain into the air and allowing the wind to carry the chaff
away. "Winds", it was argued, "are raised by God alone, and it is
irreligious for man to attempt to raise wind for the aforesaid purpose
for himself, and by the efforts of his own". One clergyman had
debarred from communion such of his parish as used the winnowing
machine.
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#1914
#All of the books of the philosopher Henri Bergson are banned by the
Vatican
In 1907, Henri Bergson publishes his "Creative Evolution", and
soon becomes a popular figure in the philosophical world. In 1914, the
Catholic Church places all of his books upon the Index Expurgatorius.
Bergson's works included much philosophical support for Darwin's
theory of evolution.
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#1925
#John Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in Tennessee
In Tennessee, John Scopes is found guilty of having taught
evolution based on Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species". The state
legislature soon after passes a law forbidding any teacher in the
state "to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine
creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man
has descended from a lower order of animals." The law remains on the
statute books until 1967.
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#1940
#Bertrand Russell is removed as philosophy professor from City U of
New York
Bertrand Russell is appointed Professor of Philosophy at the
College of the City of New York. Bishop William Manning of the
Episcopal Church denounces the appointment because Russell was a
"recognized propagandist against religion and morality." A Brooklyn
housewife institutes a suit against the Board of Higher Education on
the ground that her daughter might be injured if she enrolled in one
of Russell's classes. The New York courts support the suit, and
Russell's appointment is voided.
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#1968, June 30
#Pope Paul VI states that the Vatican alone possesses the absolute
truth.
Pope Paul VI releases a solemn credo in which he states that the
Roman Catholic Church alone is in possession of the absolute truth.
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#1991, Aug
#Higher death rate is found among Christians who oppose medical
treatment
A longterm study of graduates from two religious colleges found a
higher death rate among the Christian Scientist group, whose religion
opposes medical treatment, federal health officials said Thursday. The
1945-1983 study involved the graduating classes of Christian
Science-affiliated Principia College in Elsah, Ill., and Loma Linda
University in Loma Linda, Calif., a Seventh-day Adventist institution.
The doctrines of both schools require abstinence from alcohol
consumption and smoking.
However, "Christian Scientists reject medical healing in favor of
spiritual healing alone, whereas Seventh-day Adventists accept both
spiritual and medical healing", said the federal Centers for Disease
Control, which conducted the study. Seventh-day Adventists are also
required to abstain from eating certain foods, such as pork and
shellfish. In addition, the church recommends a vegetarian diet that
limits the consumption of meat, poultry or fish to less than once per
week. The Christian Scientist-affiliated college did not require
similar diet restrictions.
During the 39-year period, a total of 2,421 men and 2,669 women
graduated from Principia College, or PC, and 5,010 men and 3,788 women
graduated from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Loma Linda
University, or LLU. "Overall mortality was higher for PC graduates
than for LLU graduates, for men 40 per 1,000 and 22 per 1,000
respectively; and for women 27 per 1,000 and 12 per 1,000
respectively", the CDC said.
One drawback of the study was that it did not look at the death
rate for comparable graduates from non-religious colleges. Robert
Hahn, an epidemiologist with the CDC, said the study was primarily
aimed at determining whether rejection of medical healing in favor of
spiritual healing influenced the death rate in a population group.
The CDC researcher conceded the dietary habits of Seventh-day
Adventists are associated with lower risks for several chronic
diseases. However, another study two years ago comparing mortality of
Christian Scientist graduates with those from the University of Kansas
also found a higher death rate for the Christian Scientists, he said.
"Previous reports have described differences in health status and
disease patterns in religious groups in the United States", the CDC
said, citing prolonged outbreaks of measles, rubella, and polio among
Amish and Christian Scientists who reject immunizations.
It said that in 1984 "of all reported cases of measles classified
as 'nonpreventable,' 89.2 percent occurred among persons exempt from
vaccination laws for religious or philosophic reasons".

**************************************************************************
Greg Aharonian
Source Translation & Optimiztion
P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178
.