e and that the planets
revolved around it. Anaxagoras followed a few years later than
Pythagoras, and became convinced that the sun was merely a ball of fire
and therefore should not be worshiped; that it follows a natural law,
that nothing ever happens by chance, and that to pray for rain is
absurd.

For his honesty in expressing what he thought was truth, the priests of
Athens had Anaxagoras and his family exiled to perpetual banishment
from Athens and all of his books were burned.

Plato touched on Astronomy, for he touches on everything, and fully
believed that the earth was round.

His pupil, Aristotle, taught all that Anaxagoras taught, and if he also
had not been exiled, but had been free to study, investigate and express
himself, he would have come very close to the truth.

Hipparchus, a hundred years after Aristotle, calculated the length of
the year to within six minutes, discovered the precession of equinoxes
and counted all the stars he could see, making a map of them.

Seventy years after Christ, Ptolemy, a Greco-Egyptian, but not of the
royal line of Ptolemies, published his great book, "The Almagest." For
over fourteen centuries it was the textbook for the best astronomers.

It taught that the earth was the center of the universe, and that the
sun and the planets revolve around it. There were many absurdities,
however, that had to be explained, and the priests practically rejected
the whole book as "pagan" and taught an astronomy of their own, founded
entirely upon the Bible. They wanted an explanation that would be
accepted by the common people.

This astronomy was not designed to be very scientific, exact or
truthful--all they asked was, "Is it plausible?" Expediency, to
theology, has always been much more important than truth.

"Besides," said Saint Basil, "what boots it concerning all this
conjecture about the stars, since the earth is soon to come to an end,
as is shown by our Holy Scriptures, and man's business is to prepare his
soul for eternity?"

This was the general attitude of the Church--exact truth was a matter of
indifference. And if Science tended to unseat men's faith in the Bible,
and in God's most holy religion, then so much the worse for Science.

It will thus plainly be seen why the Church felt compelled to fight
Science--the very life of the Church was at stake.

The Church was the vital thing--not truth. If truth could be taught
without unseating faith, why, all right, b