The history of the christian church has many instances where strongly held beliefs have turned out to be wrong. The classic example being Galileo. The “church” believed that the earth had to be the centre of the universe, and that the sun and the other planets revolved around the earth. This was based on their interpretation of the Bible. Galileo, on the other hand, believed that the earth revolved around the sun, since this simplified the mathematics of planetary motion. After persecuting Galileo, common sense eventually prevailed and the church accepted Galileos theory.
Science also has had it’s share of strongly held beliefs which later proved to be incorrect. An example is Dalton’s Atomic theory which states “that atoms are indivisible and indestructable” While this still holds true for “chemical reactions” we now know that atoms can be split and even destroyed by “nuclear reactions”
These and other examples suggest that we need to keep an open mind about strongly held beliefs in both theology and science.
Can you comment on any other examples?
Do you agree with this premise?