The play Galileo by Bertolt Brecht, written around 1945-47, showcases a time of pensiveness. Being true to the life and times of Galileo during the Renaissance period, it also shows the reign of the Inquisition, a group of institutions within the system of the Roman Catholic Church whose main aim was to combat heresy. To act against "heresy" was not considered enforcing church discipline or imposing doctrinal conformity. Heresy was seen as an evil that threatened both the salvation of souls and the very heart of the community. Heresy was not an individual acting alone; heresy was an attack on the whole community and the whole purpose of life [1]. The character of the procurator, as seen in the play, aptly describes the role of the Inquisition during the Renaissance on science and their outlook on research by saying, “. What good would it do to you to have all the time …show more content…
But at the same time, being radical came at a deathly price. The more radical you are, the crueller would be your punishment. From driving one insane to burning a person at the stake. Thanks to the Inquisition, the scientists we cite had only the creationist perspective available. Consider the Italian monk who was burned for speculating that God may have created life on other worlds. We speak of Galileo as a creationist, the Inquisition made sure he was. One possible reason for this high a stake in the works of a society, by the inquisition, can be justified as safeguarding the sensitivities of society by tagging these theories as heresy. Peer review worked fine when reviewers were men and women of integrity and intelligence skilled in their craft. Now it is a disaster allowing an establishment of second rate minds to ruthlessly extinguish all competition, every new idea