Chapter 15 Summary and Analysis

In 1992, the Roman Catholic Church dispensed an official correction and apology to the effect that Galileo was, in fact, correct when he asserted that the Earth revolves around the Sun, instead of the other way around. In so doing, Carl Sagan wonders, was the church admitting in just one instance or, in a strangely oblique way, all instances that science can be correct when it challenges official church dogma?

No matter. An apology, even one that comes three centuries too late, is nevertheless welcome. Sagan reflects it's too bad that the church has so often stood in direct contradiction, denial and conflict with the findings of science. The core of this conflict, he tells his readers, is the fact science is evidence-based. Religious dogma is faith-based. Again, no news here, but this is another example of how the two modes of...