Happy Birthday Galileo!

Today is the 447th birthday of Galileo Galilei. When his name is mentioned, we often hear about the anti-science posture of the Church and the way in which it tortured this seeker of truth. It's pretty easy to quickly make some assumptions about the Catholic Church if we accept as true, the stories, or myths of Galileo.
    Surely the  Church has apologized for some ways in which it responded to Galileo but it is important to note what the Church was responding to. It was not his scientific theories as much as his assertions that the Word of God as expressed in scripture was incorrect. The whole story is rather complicated and I really don't have the background to get into it on my own, but I refer you to an article in Catholic Answers that gives a nice explanation of the controversy.