[campaignPete R-CT]

he tried to turn it into a religious doctrine (as 18 other people have tried to point out.)

“DOCTRINE”, see that word in there?

[dr_lew]

Galileo fought for the independence of scientific endeavor from religious doctrine:

Again, to command that the very professors of astronomy themselves see to the refutation of their own observations and proofs as mere fallacies and sophisms is to enjoin something that lies beyond any possibility of accomplishment. For this would amount to commanding that they must not see what they see and must not understand what they know, and that in searching they must find the opposite of what they actually encounter.

- Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina