Some Catholics Still Say Galileo Was Wrong

Not only did Roman Catholics arrest Galileo for saying the Earth revolves around the sun—a handful of them still insist he was wrong. It's a small movement, but a few conservative Roman Catholics are turning to Church teachings and a dozen Bible verses as proof of a geocentric universe, the Chicago Tribune reports. Heliocentrism, which puts the sun at the center of the solar system, "becomes dangerous if it is being propped up as the true system when, in fact, it is a false system," said Robert Sungenis, leader of the movement.

His logic continues: "False information leads to false ideas, and false ideas lead to illicit and immoral actions—thus the state of the world today..." Arguing for a society in which government and academia are subservient to the Church, believers held a conference near the University of Notre Dame last fall. Astrophysicists at the university were not amused. "There are some people who want to move the world back to the 1950s when it seemed like a better time," said one. "These are people who want to move the world back to the 1250s." (More Galileo stories.)