Unorthodox

Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? ~Acts 1:11

Orthodoxy fascinates me to no end - that which is writ divine by an unchangeable God (and by God of course I mean Roman Emperor Constantine I, the quintessential politician) until its no longer sustainable - then magic happens. Where was Penn & Teller on that one? The Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition was the tribunal responsible for prosecuting Galileo in 1633 on suspicion of heresy. Had the charge been more severe...well, suffice it to say the Church continued to execute those proven heretical for another 200 years. And just so we're all on the same page, heresy in this case simply meant he was convinced the Sun was the center of our solar system and that the Earth rotated around it. Sadly, because that description had been declared contrary to Holy Scripture (as had, awkwardly, mathematics) violence did ensue. Not only Christians killing non-Christians for not being Christians, but Christians killing Christians for not being Christian enough, much like today where Muslims kill Muslims and non-Muslims alike for the same reasons. Of all three Abrahamic religions, I don't know if post-Old Testament Jews ever went around killing non-Jews for not being Jewish, or not Jewish enough. I'll have to look into that.

BUT ITS ALL GOOD NOW. You see, 22 years ago (yes, you read that right - 1992) the Church finally admitted that their understanding of the physical world's structure was - in some way - imposed by the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. Given the change in heart over the last 400 years, despite nearly murdering Galileo for his heretical ways, in another 400 years they may even canonize him. Just think of it, St. Galilei! Pretty soon (and by soon I'm still talking dogmatic years; give or take a couple more centuries) the Church may begin to acquiesce on women, blacks, and homosexuals. Its an exciting time.

In the meantime however, now that the Church has stopped killing people who acknowledge science (which probably has far more to do with a shift in power and money than anything else) they're ready to shoot themselves into space!

As long as they can maintain their orthodoxy:


How orthodox is too orthodox?


^{* Thanks for celtmanx for the link :)}