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The Galileo/Pope Urban thing was a long, long time ago people.


And the entire Galileo thing is incredibly distorted, this by the anti-creationists.

Galileo was never made to recant any theory. Galileo was made to add a preface to a book stating that it was a theory and not a fact *until he could prove it*, which he couldn't.

(the Jesuits were teaching Galileo's theories in schools the entire time this was going on; Galileo's books and ideas certainly weren't banned)

What really got Galileo in trouble was being an incredible prick, claiming discoveries and inventions that weren't his, etc. The pope was a childhood friend that Galileo repeatedly insulted until the pope finally relented and allowed Galileo to be punished, with strict limits imposed. Galileo was never tortured (though he was shown a torture chamber and its tools) and his "jail" was a five-room suite in the Bishop's palace, with servants.

There is an excellent book called The Sleepwalkers (I can't remember which author) that goes over this: the author went back to the original records and translated them himself. What stands out is that an incredibly brilliant guy who has the phenomal luck of having a friend become pope makes every effort to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and that he had papal protection throughout (ie, Galileo's enemies were allowed to threaten him but not harm him in any way).
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"If they can't picture me with a knife, forcing them to strip in an alley, I don't want any part of it. It's humiliating." - windsock