[dr_lew]

I remember a brainwashing attempt in my first university, where we were instructed to read Galileo’s “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina.” We were told this meant that he was an early proponent of the separation of Church and State/Science/etc. and that he was anti-religious altogether. But a careful reading of the actual material, rather than the self serving modern or postmodern drivel that was to do our thinking for us, would cause one to draw no such conclusion. His saying that the purpose of the bible was (something to the effect)to show us how to go to heaven, not how heaven goes, did not deny scripture as some would spin it.

Yes, he credits "an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree" with the epigram: "That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the the heavens go."

But this is a very clear expression of the separation of scientific and religious matters which you attribute to brainwashing.

[Apogee]

Thank you for the more accurate quotation. That was over a decade ago.
He is saying there are separate spheres of inquiry, but not denying the validity of either.
The ‘brainwashing’ in this instance was to surround this text fore and aft with interpretations which made it difficult for students to examine the text alone, and seemed to seek to create an anachronistic mindset which caused the student to simply say “ah, separation of church and state, now I understand,” turn off his brain and absorb an amorphous sense of how science has steadily triumphed over superstition and we are all better off for it.