In my first post, I linked to NASA's PlanetQuest site. There, they have an article on the history of exoplanetology. They open with reference to a guy named Giordano Bruno, and claim 'when the Catholic monk Giordano Bruno asserted that there were
"countless suns and countless earths all rotating around their suns,' he
was accused of heresy" (NASA).
Even a cursory glance at the relevant Wikipedia article reveals that this is a distortion of the truth; Giordano Bruno was indeed burned at the stake, but "scholars emphasize that Bruno's astronomical views were at most a minor
component of the theological and philosophical beliefs that led to his
trial" and that the charges against him included "denial of several core Catholic doctrines".
I'm tired of seeing scientists who treat religion as the antithesis of everything they work for. Science itself can be an expression of religious fervor, an attempt to know more about God's creation and how it works, opening up a greater appreciation for it all.
As far as I know, the Catholic Church has not made any declaration of the possibility or impossibility of other worlds, or life therein, intelligent or not. So let us please put to rest this tired old idea that there is some timeless conflict between science and religion. NASA, if any of you are reading this, either stick to your field of study or get your facts straight.
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