If the people of Europe had known as much of astronomy and geology when the bible was introduced among them, as they do now, there never could have been one believer in the doctrine of inspiration. If the writers of the various parts of the bible had known as much about the sciences as is now known by every intelligent man, the book never could have been written. It was produced by ignorance, and has been believed and defended by its author. It has lost power in the proportion that man has gained knowledge. A few years ago, this book was appealed to in the settlement of all scientific questions; but now, even the clergy confess that in such matters, it has ceased to speak with the voice of authority. For the establishment of facts, the word of man is now considered far better than the word of God. In the world of science, Jehovah was superseded by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. All that God told Moses, admitting the entire account to be true, is dust and ashes compared to the discoveries of Descartes, Laplace, and Humboldt. In matters of fact, the bible has ceased to be regarded as a standard. Science has succeeded in breaking the chains of theology. A few years ago, Science endeavored to show that it was not inconsistent with the bible. The tables have been turned, and now, Religion is endeavoring to prove that the bible is not inconsistent with Science. The standard has been changed.

~ Robert G. Ingersoll

Robert G. Ingersoll Alexander Humboldt Alexander Von Humboldt Astronomy Author Authority Belief Believer Bible Book Chains Christians Clergy Copernicus Des Cartes Descartes Discovery Doctrine Europe Facts Galileo Galileo Galilei Geology God Humboldt Ignorance Inconsistent Inspiration Intelligent Jehovah Johannes Kepler Kepler Knowledge La Place Laplace Marquis De Laplace Moses Nicolaus Copernicus Pierre Simon Pierre Simon Laplace Prove Religion René Descartes Science Standard The Bible Theology True Wilhelm Humboldt Wilhelm Von Humboldt Word Of God Yahweh

After a duration of a thousand years, the power of astrology broke down when, with Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, the progress of astronomy overthrew the false hypothesis upon which the entire structure rested, namely the geocentric system of the universe. The fact that the earth revolves in space intervened to upset the complicated play of planetary influences, and the silent stars, related to the unfathomable depths of the sky, no longer made their prophetic voices audible to mankind. Celestial mechanics and spectrum analysis finally robbed them of their mysterious prestige.

~ Franz Cumont

Franz Cumont Astrology Astronomy Copernicus Galileo Galileo Galilei Heleocentricm Johannes Kepler Kepler Mystery Nicolaus Copernicus Pseudoscience Science

There is talk of a new astrologer [Nicolaus Copernicus] who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around instead of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved. But that is how things are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must . . . invent something special, and the way he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth.[Martin Luther stating his objection to heliocentrism due to his Scripture's geocentrism]

~ Martin Luther

Martin Luther Astronomy Bible Copernicus Geocentrism Heliocentrism Nicolaus Copernicus Science Science And Religion Scripture The Bible

When in 1863 Thomas Huxley coined the phrase 'Man's Place in Nature,' it was to name a short collection of his essays applying to man Darwin's theory of evolution. The Origin of Species had been published only four years before, and the thesis that man was literally a part of nature, rather than an earthy vessel charged with some sublimer stuff, was so novel and so offensive to current metaphysics that it needed the most vigorous defense. Half the civilized world was rudely shocked, the other half skeptically amused.Nearly a century has passed since the Origin shattered the complacency of the Victorian world and initiated what may be called the Darwinian revolution, an upheaval of man's ideas comparable to and probably exceeding in significance the revolution that issued from Copernicus's demonstration that the earth moves around the sun. The theory of evolution was but one of many factors contributing to the destruction of the ancient beliefs; it only toppled over what had already been weakened by centuries of decay, rendered suspect by the assaults of many intellectual disciplines; but it marked the beginning of the end of the era of faith.

~ Homer W. Smith

Homer W. Smith Amuse Ancient Beliefs Beliefs Biology Charles Darwin Copernicus Darwin Defense End Of Faith Evolution Huxley Intellect Man S Place In Nature Metaphysics Naturalism Nature Nicolaus Copernicus On The Origin Of Species Origin Of Species Rude Science Skeptic The Origin Of Species Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Huxley Victorian

The full impact of the Lobachevskian method of challenging axioms has probably yet to be felt. It is no exaggeration to call Lobachevsky the Copernicus of Geometry [as did Clifford], for geometry is only a part of the vaster domain which he renovated; it might even be just to designate him as a Copernicus of all thought.

~ Eric Temple Bell

Eric Temple Bell Clifford Copernicus Geometry Impact Lobachevskian Lobachevsky Math Mathematics Nicolaus Copernicus Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky Nikolai Lobachevsky Science Thought William Clifford William Kingdon Clifford

Mathemata mathematicis scribuntur.

~ Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomy Latin Mathematics Nicolaus Copernicus